East of Creation, Towards the Sun Book 7
by S.Hagen
Summary: Having met with Lieger in Malfeus Ivory now must travel to the poles of Creation in order to enact her plan. She will need transport, but that is only the first part of it. Then she must travel east, farther east than any mortal and even many of the Chosen have ever travelled. And that is only the first of the poles she must visit
1. Wonders Reforged for the Legion

East of Creation, Towards the Sun Book 7

by Shawn Hagen

Wonders Reforged for the Legion

Quiet.

Polite.

Perfectly presented.

Those were watchwords that Darken Gray had demanded she follow.

Ivory was going begging, for all that she might offer, and there was no room for anything other than quiet, polite and perfectly presented.

Ivory Peleps knelt, her formal kimono with its long sleeves settled about her in all perfection. A small amount of her essence spent to achieve that Excellence.

Darken Gray knelt next to her, in her skirt suit, high heels left by the door.

Karal Linwei, their ally of sorts within Lookshy, sat opposite them.

There had been tea drunk, and all the polite words had been spoken, by Darken Grey, all the ceremonies followed.

Nothing was done to give offence.

With all the niceties complete Linwei asked the question.

"Why have you come here?"

It was Ivory who spoke now. "We would like one of Lookshy's flying vehicles, and in exchange, I will fix at least ten of your damaged air fleet."

Linwei nodded. "And what craft would you demand for such a service."

Ivory knew the woman did not doubt that she could do as she claimed. Linwei had been among those that had watched as she had saved Lookshy, putting the Solar manse beneath it to rights—or if not to rights, she had at least kept it from destroying the city.

Her concern was what Ivory might ask for in return.

"We would demand nothing. We would accept what you would provide."

"No military craft."

Ivory almost made an exasperated click with her teeth, but she instead nodded politely. "Of course."

Linwei was looking at her as if she did not quite believe what Ivory was saying.

"Why come here?"

"My companions would seek better relations with the Seventh Legion."

"What do you need the ship for?"

This woman asks a lot of questions, Ivory thought, and almost spoke something to that effect, but Darken Gray spoke before she could.

Ivory suspected her governess had been well aware as to her thoughts.

"I wish to take Ivory travelling the world."

"Travelling the world?"

"It is educational. And there is much she still has to learn."

Linwei looked at Ivory.

Ivory looked back at her, keeping her expression soft, her golden eyes meeting Linwei's.

"I think," Linwei said, looking away from Ivory, "that there is little she needs to learn."

Ivory allowed herself a small smile at the praise.

"Few match her in sorcery, engineering and the combination of the two, but there are significant gaps in the rest of her education. A daughter of the House of Peleps is expected to know more and to be more."

Linwei nodded after a second or two of silence. "I understand."

Ivory thought, perhaps, there was something sad in the woman's tone.

If such sadness existed it was gone a moment later when she said, "I will speak to my colleagues, about your offer and whether we will accept it."

If they would accept it? Ivory was offering them, well, her. Her skills which she had shown them when she had saved the city. Skills that had increased considerably after her time in Malfeus.

It was almost as if they were trying to insult her.

She did not say anything, though she truly wanted to.

This was not the time, and many opportunities might be lost if she did not keep her temper.

She nodded, dipping her head slightly, pretending that Linwei was her mother or one of her older sisters.

It made it easier.

"We understand," Darken Gray said. "Though I would like to ask about our safety."

Linwei smiled. "Ivory Peleps saved this city. She and those with her will be safe here, as long as they offer no threat to Lookshy, its people or the Legion." She paused. "Well, beyond the threat her simply being here represents."

"Thank you," Darken Gray told her.

* * *

Later Linwei met with Maheka Lespa.

"Ivory Peleps," Lespa said. The two words stated in a tone that indicated the weight that Lespa gave them.

"Ivory Peleps," Linwei agreed.

"You are inclined to accept this agreement?"

Linwei considered this for a few seconds. "I am. If she can do what she says, the price she asks is minor, and the benefit large."

"Ivory Peleps is not your daughter. She owes no alliance to us."

"That is true. Ivory wants to deepen the relationship between herself and us."

"The foundation she began to lay when she saved this city will grow."

"And eventually there will be a vast structure, an alliance between her and us that will be too strong for us to tear down. Assuming we even want to. Or at least that is a possibility we have to consider."

Lespa looked around her office, eyes passing over some of the trophies, from countless battles, she had kept.

They, all of them, were still uncertain.

"We have spoken of this change before. I do not like it, and yet at the same time, I can't pretend that it does not happen. I am willing to accept this agreement, but I want her watched. Yoti."

Linwei nodded. "A good choice."

"I trust him not to become charmed by this Peleps girl, and to learn all that he can. If I cannot stop the changes of time, I can at least do everything possible to benefit the Seventh Legion first and foremost."

* * *

When Ivory and Heron had stayed at Lookshy, they had been given guest quarters, a separate house with an illusion of privacy.

The quarters that she and Darken Gray had been given were in one of the main fortress towers. Comfortable, but secure and well guarded. She supposed they could be a luxurious prison as well, but at the moment she did feel like a protected guest.

After changing into a less formal kimono, she had been set to making tea for Darken Gray. Kneeling on the floor, she went through the precise ballet of the tea ceremony. Each bowl she prepared and presented to the god received a critique of what was done right and what was done wrong before Darken Grey took a small drink and commented on the quality of the tea itself.

"I could just use the power of the Sun. It would be perfect."

"It would taste perfect," Darken Gray said. "But the performance is part of the ceremony. And if you achieve mastery of the tea ceremony without the Sun's blessings, think about what you will manage with it."

Ivory nodded and once more began the process.

She had prepared thirty bowls of tea when Darken Gray called the training over for the day.

Ivory did not know if she had achieved the level of proficiency that Darken Gray wanted, or if the god was just tired of sampling tea.

"Get your writing things," Darken Gray told her. "I want you to write an essay about your experiences in Malfeas."

"About what? So much happened."

"That is part of what you must decide."

Ivory went and got the fine travel case that held her inks and brushes and pens (though she would not be allowed to use the pens) as well as paper.

Darken Gray took a few minutes to examine each brush and had Ivory trim the brushes where required.

"Begin," Darken Gray told her.

Ivory prepared her ink then took up one of the brushes in her right hand, and with her left holding back the sleeve of her kimono, began to write.

There was so much she might talk about.

The bazaars and the streets of the hopeful slave, of the game Heron played, and of rushing through the streets with Janequin, her visit to the Forge of Night and her audience with Alveua.

What she could not write about was her meeting with Ligier.

Taking a deep breath she wrote of the Forge of Night, and its mistress.

When she finally finished Darken Gray picked up the pages and looked them over. She produced a red, mechanical pen with an ink reservoir (the sort that she would not let Ivory use) and began to mark the pages, leaving behind red circles and lines of text.

"Work on your word choice, you need to make your reader feel something. Provide richer, fuller descriptions. This reads like a technical document. Write it again." She placed the heavily annotated pages in front of Ivory.

Ivory picked up the pages, looked over the notes, and then reached for fresh sheets of paper.

She had just begun when someone knocked on the door.

"Continue your work," Darken Gray said as she stood and left the room.

Ivory could hear the sound of the door opening, soft murmur of voices, then Darken Gray calling, "Ivory, please come here."

Carefully she put aside her brush and then stood, walking with a measured pace towards the suite's entrance.

She found Karal Linwei seated in the visiting room, Darken Gray putting a cup of tea in front of her. How had she made tea so fast?

"Good evening Peleps-san. The rooms are comfortable."

Ivory bowed, but did not kneel, and said, "Yes, thank you Karal-Taimyo." She then took a seat.

Linwei took a drink of her tea and then said, "We have agreed to your proposal. For providing repair services to Lookshy's air fleet, you will be allowed to then repair a damaged, nonmilitary aircraft which will be given to you."

"Thank you," Ivory said.

"Just a moment," Darken Gray said.

"Yes?" Linwei asked.

"What is the standard work day among the member of the Legion, outside of war footing?"

Linwei smiled. "Of course. Shall we say an eight hour day?"

Ivory was about to say she could easily work twelve, but Darken Gray answered, "That is acceptable."

"Very well, tomorrow Maheka Yoti will meet you here. He will be your guide and provide assistance when required."

"Yoti," Ivory said, and then added almost too late, "san?"

"Will that be a problem?"

Ivory suspected there was more to that question than there appeared. She shook her head and said, "No."

"Very well. I hope we both benefit greatly from this agreement."

Linwei stood, and Ivory did as well. She saw the woman from the room, made the proper goodbyes.

"Spend another hour on your essay," Darken Gray told her. "Then you can get some rest. Things will become busy tomorrow."

Ivory did not feel like resting, but she did not feel like arguing the point. Not then.

She returned to the room Darken Gray had designated the classroom and took up her brush again. She looked at what she had written and, pulling her kimono sleeve back, began to again write.

* * *

Dressed in red hakama and a white kimono of a shrine maiden, Ivory was ready to meet Yoti.

He was prompt, knocking at the door at the exact minute.

Darken Gray opened the door and invited him in, asking if he wished some tea.

"No thank you," he told her. "I want to get started on this as soon as possible.

Ivory, listening from another room, suspected what was unsaid was the sooner it started the sooner it would be over.

"Ready Hu?" she asked the tiger who lounged near by.

Hu did not answer but merely yawned.

"I'll take that as a yes," Ivory told him and went out to meet Yoti.

The stout sorcerer technician and his armiger: Mesha; the construct that Ivory had taken, used, destroyed and then rebuilt. The construct that had refused to stay with her.

That still upset her.

She was careful not to show it.

"Maheka-san," she politely, and dipped her head in an abbreviated bow. Not quite rude.

He nodded. "Are you ready?" he asked, abruptly.

"I am."

He turned and walked from the room.

"Behave well," Darken Gray told her.

"Of course," Ivory told her with her most innocent smile.

Darken Gray just frowned and shook her head.

She ran a few steps to catch up to Yoti and Mesha, Hu padding quietly at her side.

The four of them should have attracted a lot of attention, but the path they took was not well travelled, and Ivory saw guards at some places, likely making sure that she and the others were not seen and so commented on.

So she was likely a secret from most of Lookshy.

It was not that surprising.

Though she had hoped she might be able to put on a bit of a show.

They entered a tunnel, dipped under the public streets of the city, then came up outside of a large, closed building.

"Maintenance hangar," Yoti told her in a brusque tone.

Ivory nodded. The building looked familiar, and Ivory supposed she might have seen it from a distance before.

There had been many buildings she had wanted to see closer during the time she and Heron had stayed in the city.

He led her past a guard at the door, grunting at the woman's friendly greeting.

"Don't mind him," Mesha said. "He's playing tour guide and less than happy."

The guard smiled at the construct.

Ivory was impressed with the social agility of Mesha. She was also annoyed that the construct had not seen how much better it would have been had she stayed with Ivory.

They stepped out of the early morning sun and into the hangar.

The ceiling above them was divided into sections by several beam cranes, one of them rumbling along, swinging the wing section of a Manta-class transport away from the craft it had been taken from.

The room was full of aircraft, and the workers, and their tools. Ivory wanted to run among them and look at it all, touch it all, pick it up and see what she could do with it. Her steps slowed as, eyes wide, she looked all around.

"This way," Yoti grumbled.

Ivory looked longingly at the Warbird resting on its landing gear, no more than twenty feet away.

Sighing she followed after Yoti.

People looked towards them, the little girl and the tiger more than anything, but a scowling glance from Yoti cured their curiosity and sent their attention back to their work.

At the far side of the building, among parts and junk and parts that were likely scrap, three craft stood apparently abandoned.

Two were Manta class air carriers, both stripped of their armour, and the third aircraft a sky chariot.

"You think you can get these three operating?"

Ivory looked at them, walking closer. Where to even start? "Maintenance records?"

"This way."

From a nearby small toolkit, he pulled out the notes and handed them to her.

Ivory looked at the dusty container, wiped it off, and then took a seat, leaving Yoti to find his own seat or stand.

She was not surprised he chose to stand. To loom over her as best he could with his short stature.

The notes covered all the work done on the three craft over the centuries they had been in service, though only the previous few years were highly detailed. There was also a précis of their recent service.

Three craft, none of which the Sorcerer Technicians of Lookshy could make work. All three about to be consigned to the bone yard and stripped for parts.

"Very good," Ivory said, placing the notes aside, then walking to the nearest of the craft, one the Mantas.

Putting a hand on its frame she closed her eyes for a moment, letting a trickle of her essence flow into the metal of the hull. She could sense the structure of the craft under her fingers, behind her closed lids she could envision the structure within.

She took her hand from it, walked across the floor, towards a well-stocked tool cart. From it, she took out a wrench, one nearly as long as she was tall.

"What are you planning?" Yoti asked, then snapped, "Back to work," at some mechanics who had been watching Ivory.

"The airframe of the Manta is bent, probably from that crash ten years ago."

"It only stopped working eight months ago."

"It is a tiny bend, but it's thrown off the alignment of the essence reactor. Over the years it got worse."

"How do you know that?"

Ivory paused and looked at him. "I share in the brilliance of the Sun."

He scowled.

Ivory walked back to the Manta, looked it over, then jammed the wrench against the frame and pulled down, hanging her weight on it, at the same time calling on her essence.

There was an almost inaudible creak as she straightened the frame. She then climbed up into the craft, made her way to the reactor, and gave the casing a few quick taps with the base of the wrench.

"Fixed," she said.

"What?" Yoti asked, almost sounding angry.

Hu yawned, perhaps reminding Yoti what big teeth he had.

"Test it," Ivory said, then climbed out to look at the other Manta.

She head Yoti send someone for a hearthstone as she looked over the maintenance records of the second Manta. Hit by a lightning ballistae in battle, systems beginning to fail after that, several attempts made by the technicians to fix it, none working.

Putting the notes aside Ivory climbed into the craft and began to run her hands along the inside surface of the hull.

Burnt out, integrated essence circuitry, nearly impossible to fix. Ivory fed essence into the surrounding metal, repairing the damage.

The sound of the other Manta's reactor humming to life and the expressions of surprise from the technicians made her smile, but she kept working.

The craft shifted a little, and she heard the sound of footsteps. "What are you doing now?" Yoti asked.

"Repairing the craft. This one is going to be a little tricky." She looked over her shoulder at him.

He took a step back.

Ivory knew her caste mark was glittering on her forehead.

He made a choking sound, as if he had been about to say something and then cut himself off. She wondered if he had bit his own tongue. She hoped he had.

"I'm a Solar," she told him as she looked back to what she was working on. "The mark on my forehead is the sign of the Sun's favour. I would appreciate if you got used to it, or it will be harder to work together." She shook her head. "I'm helping you after all."

She increased the essence she was using, knew that she was surrounded by a golden halo of light.

"Stop that! What if anyone sees you?" he demanded.

"They are going to see me anyways I would think. If you really want the aircraft repaired, you'll have to deal with it."

He did not say anything, but she could hear him muttering something under his breath.

Feeling a little sorry for him Ivory slowed her work a little, let her anima fade so that nothing showed by the time she had finished the repairs.

With less disbelief in his tone of voice, Yoti called the technicians to test the repairs.

Ivory went and looked at the sky sledge.

Lots of wear and tear, and a number of points of failure, but nothing complicated. Ivory did not even have to call on her essence to make the repairs.

She watched at the crews moved all the vehicles, out from where they had sat for so long and into the general maintenance section. Ivory had dealt with the hardest to diagnose and most difficult to fix issues, but there was a still a lot of basic repairs that needed to be completed.

It had only been a little over two hours.

Yoti looked at her.

Ivory looked back at him.

"Come this way, I want you to look at this."

He did not sound pleased.

He led her out of the building, into the walled yard behind it.

It was filled with junk, ruined aircraft, stripped down, apparently used for parts.

"The bone yard," Yoti announced.

Ivory nodded, thinking she could, with a little time, build a many craft out of all the parts that rested there.

Yoti took her over to a large, tarp draped object. Mesha, at his command, cut the ropes and pulled the tarps away from what lay beneath.

The craft was sixty feet long and twenty wide. "It is a battle carrier," Yoti told her. "Will carry a talon of soldiers. It's been here over a century, hardly touched because," he paused, "it's not as if we have a lot of others to make repairs on. Can you fix this?"

It was a challenge Ivory thought, but perhaps there was also hope in it. How many great tools of battle from the First Age sat in the boneyards of Lookshy? Was he growing tired of seeing them?

Ivory entered the craft and moved through it, examining it. There had been some scavenging from it, no matter what Yoti might have said. Hu followed after her, but Yoti stayed outside, with Mesha.

She heard the sound of them, pulling more tarps from the battle carrier.

She would have to replace all the missing parts first.

Out in the boneyard, she found what she needed, things she could rebuild and repurpose to serve her needs. She asked Yoti to move them into the battle carrier. He and Mesha picked them up and carried them in.

Once she had enough to work with Ivory returned to the ship's interior and began making what she needed.

She fixed some parts, rebuilt others, combined different ones and even turned fused piles of junk into brand new components. It was after noon when she finished. By that time she was glowing brightly and hungry.

She was probably not the only one for Yoti said to her, "Stay in here so no one can see you. I am going to get some food. You're hungry right?"

Ivory nodded. "Yes, thank you."

She watched him leave with Mesha.

"He does not trust you," Hu told her.

"A little?"

"Not really. He has become better at hiding it. And he is watching you closely. I think he is becoming frustrated that he does not understand how you do things."

Ivory was seated on a power converter she had been working on. "How am I supposed to get him to trust me? I am trying."

"It may take a long time," Hu told her. "Small things building up into trust. He has left you alone and is getting you a meal. That is something of a start."

"Probably left Mesha somewhere in hiding to watch.

"Probably," Hu agreed.

"Heron could make Yoti trust him."

"You are not Heron. Your ways will have to be different." Hu was quiet for a moment before he added, "Trust earned is better than trust forced."

"Heron does not force people to trust him," Ivory said quickly, with a defensive tone that she knew Hu did not deserve.

The tiger yawned at her, which she knew was not a quiet threat it might be for other people. "I'm not bein' dull," she mumbled.

Yoti returned with several rice balls, trays of cold noodles and a thermos of tea. He had also brought a piece of raw meat—goat Hu would later tell her—for Hu.

They ate together, in silence. Ivory's anima died down, and she gained back some of the essence she had earlier used, absorbing it from the very air as she breathed.

Feeling refreshed, she went to back to work. She had replaced what had been scavenged from the battle carrier over the years, next she had to fix what was broken.

Under the sun the interior of the battle carrier began to heat up.

Her golden hairband kept her from getting sweaty and dishevelled. She wondered what was keeping Yoti looking as if he were not helping her out in what was starting to feel a little like an oven.

She supposed it might be sheet obstinance.

Shortly before her work day was to end Yoti plugged a hearthstone into the system, and the battle carrier came to life around them.

"Impossible," he said even as the carrier lifted into the air.

Ivory, again surrounded by a bright golden glow, asked, "Why won't you trust me?" Maybe she sounded a little like she was whining, Ivory thought, but so what. Sometimes she deserved to cry.

Yoti looked over at her, seeming surprised. He frowned, running his hands over the console, letting the battle carrier drift back to the ground as he powered the system down. "Even if I accept you are not a demon, and I am not saying I do, you are only interested in what you are interested in. You owe loyalty to no one but your own whims."

"That's not true."

"You are a child, full of whimsical desires. You have power few adults could be trusted with. That makes you dangerous."

Ivory could not argue that she was not dangerous. "I am very responsible."

He finished powering down the carrier and pulled the stone from the control panel. "Children are only responsible as they can be made to be." Then he took in a deep breath and let it out. "We will see over these next few weeks."

* * *

The next day Ivory worked on rebuilding several warbirds, the one man fighters all rested, forgotten, in maintenance cradles. There were six of them, all of them picked apart over the years.

Ivory took two of them completely apart and used those parts to rebuild the other four. As her anima began to glow brighter Yoti had Mesha string up some tarps to hide the light. Ivory was too busy to be bothered by it at the time, but afterwards, as she walked to her quarters with Darken Gray she complained. "I gave them back four warbirds, and they still don't want anyone to know about me."

"It will take time, lifetimes, but you have lifetimes," Darken Gray told her. "These are but small steps. Be patient Ivory."

"I don't want to be patient."

She wanted to slouch, she wished there was a stone on the clean road she might kick.

Darken Gray stopped and put a hand on Ivory's shoulder, bringing her to a halt.

"Come out children," Darken Gray said, her tone soft, warm, and yet there was an undeniable command in it.

Three children stepped out from an alley.

Ivory recognised them.

The chunky Ottom, a little taller than Ivory recalled, seeming a little less pudgy.

Sooka, the muscles on his still young body more developed.

Pretty Linna, looking the same, but her hair a little longer.

They had been Ivory's playmates for a time when she had lived in Lookshy, with Heron; partners in mischief.

"And who would you three be?" Darken Gray asked.

They answered quickly, politely.

"Sooka of Gens Carerdar."

"Ottom of Gens Nefvarin."

"Linna of Gens Teresu, ma'am."

Darken Gray looked them over.

All three stood up straighter.

Ivory was not surprised.

Darken Gray was a goddess well used to dealing with children.

"Your friends Ivory?"

"Yes," Ivory answered.

"We heard that Ivory was back in the city," Ottom said.

"We heard there was a red headed girl," Linna corrected.

"We really wanted to see Ivory again," Sooka said, with his natural smile.

Darken Gray looked at each three as they spoke, then nodded. "Well, Ivory does not have time to play tonight, but perhaps a play date might be arranged tomorrow."

Ivory was fairly sure that had they not stood under Darken Gray's gaze they would have rolled their eyes, but they all nodded respectfully. She wanted to roll her eyes. A 'play date'? Really, she was not a baby.

"You may speak to your friends Ivory, but only for a short time."

One last glance at the three and then Darken Gray walked off some distance, leaving the four children alone.

"What're you doin' here?" Sooka asked.

"Do you really have a giant demon cat?" That from Linna.

"My brother said the man you were with killed one of the Legion's Intelligence Officers!"

"What?"

"You never said that."

"Why were ya keepin' a secret?" Sooka pushed Ottom in the shoulder.

"Heron did not kill the maid," Ivory said, remembering Pira, the Dragon Blood spy who had lived with them. "The assassin did."

The three looked at her, heads turning almost in unison.

"Assassin?" Sooka asked.

Ivory nodded. "After me."

"You?" Ottom looked at her, wide eyed.

"Why would anyone be after you?" Linna's snotty tone made it an obvious insult.

Ivory did not rise to it. Instead, she smiled and said, "I'm pretty amazing."

"What are you doing here?" Sooka asked again.

"It is a secret," Ivory told him, supposing she really could not give them the truth, not with Yoti, as annoying as he was, going to such great lengths to hide what she was doing.

Not any of them liked that answer.

"You're probably doing nothing," Linna said.

It rang false as it was evident that Ivory was doing something, and the sour look on Linna's face made it clear she knew it.

"Let's say I am getting to see some really amazing things."

"Can you show us?" Ottom asked, tone hopeful.

Ivory felt a little bad for that. "No, I don't think so, but," she paused, "if we meet tomorrow I'll show you some interesting things."

"What?" Sooka asked.

"Ivory, it is time to leave," Darken Gray said at the same time.

"I have to go," Ivory said.

"You don't want to disobey your nurse," Linna stated in a tone like she was speaking to a small child.

"She's my governess," Ivory answered with a little heat.

"I remember you ran circles around your last governess," Linna told her. That Ivory had lost her touch was unsaid but implied.

"Do you think you could run circles around her?" Ivory asked.

The three children looked at Darken Gray.

None of them said anything to Ivory's question.

* * *

A bath, dinner, fencing and dance lessons had filled Ivory's evening.

She should have been asleep, but late in the night, she was prowling the darkened, secret corridors of Lookshy.

Hu paced her, a hidden scout, finding a path, watching her back trail, warning her when to hide.

She was a like a ghost; unseen and unheard.

At one point, as she crouched in a patch of shadow, waiting for two guards to pass, she wondered if Darken Gray knew she had snuck from the apartments.

Ivory could not imagine she did not.

Which meant the goddess was likely viewing Ivory's actions as somehow educational.

Her destination was a vault, one of the vaults she and Heron had searched when they had sought the Mask of Winters' weapon.

It was as she remembered.

Not even the lock combination had changed.

"Sloppy," she said as she entered the vault.

The room was filled with interesting things, and at another time Ivory might have examined them all, but instead, she went straight to a cube, its side twice her height.

The exterior was white jade, and probably no one at the Seventh Legion knew that that the jade was only a shell.

Ivory placed her hands on the cool material and leaned her weight against it, spreading her small hands, varying the pressure of her fingers.

Something clicked.

A seam appeared in the jade, running the length of the face Ivory was working with. With a hiss part of the face slid in, then up, opening the cube's interior. Within was a complex array of Orichalcum and Moon Silver gears, in which were placed a series of adamant gems.

Ivory reached in, gently touching the gems.

"The goddess comes," Hu said.

It was warning enough that Ivory did not start when she heard Tien Yu say, "Ivory Peleps, what are you doing here?"

Ivory turned, smiling as if she had expected Tien Yu to be there, she said, "Tien Yu-Sama, I am pleased to see you." She bowed, politely, though not too low.

"I very much doubt that, and my question still stands."

Ivory knew that the goddess was in something of an awkward position. After all, Ivory had played a major part in saving the city. "This is a Reality Engine."

Tien Yu looked at the cube.

Ivory suspected she had not known.

"It is currently inoperable."

"I see. Are you going to fix it."

Ivory was still smiling. "There are two others in the city's vaults, not exactly like this, but Reality Engines. I am going to use the parts of one to fix the other two."

"I see." The goddess frowned.

"I will then take one and leave the other, the most powerful."

"You are going to steal one and a half of the Legion's Reality Engines."

"Yes, I suppose you might see it that way. And really, without me, it is just junk, zero Reality Engines."

"You have a high opinion of yourself."

Ivory lifted her chin. "What manse did not explode and did not destroy this city?"

The goddess of Lookshy was silent for a moment. "Fair enough. Why do you want a Reality Engine?"

"Doesn't every little girl want a Reality Engine?"

"I actually do not know what little girls want. Perhaps I should start paying attention."

"Consider that the lands where Thorns was are currently tainted by the Wyld."

"I am aware."

"The Legion could march this Reality Engine about a day into the lands of that used to be Thorns and activate it." Ivory put her hands on the cube. "The lands would be quickly cleansed, and the rest of where Thorns was could be brought to order."

"That is quite valuable."

"And the cost is only my borrowing the less powerful of the Reality Engines."

Tien Yu looked uncertain.

It was not a good look for her, Ivory thought.

"Borrowing?"

"I'll bring it back within the next decade."

She nodded. "Very well. I will look the other way."

"Great. Now, do you think you could fetch the other two engines for me?"

* * *

Lookshy was not the kind of city that had parks, but it had the Green Hunt, a place of the wild, or as wild as it could get inside the city.

Ivory, Linna, Ottom and Sooka had come there, late in the day, after Ivory had finished her work.

The children were playing with a flying toy that Ivory had built. It the size of a large dog, and carried a simple pneumatic cannon that fired small, padded darts. The control was a pane of crystal that Sooka currently held, turning it back and forth, while within the crystal was projected an image of what was in front of the toy.

Sooka spun it around a tree, turning it sharply, and fired the cannon.

One of the padded darts hit a squirrel, knocking of off the branch.

"A hit," Sooka crowed.

"Let me try it," Ottom said, crowding Sooka and reaching for the control.

Sooka elbowed him in the side. "I'm flying it."

"Ivory," Ottom said, turning towards her, almost whining.

"Actually, I think it is Linna's turn."

Linna smiled smugly. "Yeah, it is my turn." She reached for the control.

Sooka looked for a moment as if he was going to refuse to give it up, but a hard stare from Ivory made him hand it over.

Linna quickly had the toy flying within the branches of the tree, hunting squirrels.

Other children, as well as adults, in the area, watched the four children.

The drone that Ivory had built seemed incredible. And those that were soldiers watched it with a certain intensity, especially when the cannon fired.

Of course Darken Gray was there as well, watching Ivory.

She was joined by Karal Linwei.

Linwei wore a wide brimmed hat that hid her face, come to the Green Hunt incognito.

Darken Gray nodded politely to the woman.

For a time the two watched without speaking, then Linwei asked, "What will happen to those children?"

Darken Gray did not look towards her, did not answer immediately. "To spend time with the Celestial Exalted is to have the threads of Fate become tangled around you. If there is any chance those three would exalt as Dragon Bloods, then I would say it is now almost certain they will."

"Certain?"

"So the records from the First Age suggest."

Darken Gray did not look towards Linwei, though she could sense the discomfort that radiated off the woman.

Her beliefs were being challenged, but it seemed Linwei sought to test them.

"They are not guaranteed a happy life," Linwei said.

"Who is? But yes, to be tangled in fate it to be snarled in greatness. Simple happiness is difficult to find."

"Simple happiness? It has been some time since I understood that."

Darken Gray turned towards the woman. Looking at her, seeing the little girl that Linwei had once been. "Simple joys are easy enough to find. But you need to let yourself be open to them."

"That's not easy."

Darken Gray smiled at her. "Sometimes it is easier than you know. If you'll excuse me."

"Of course," Linwei said.

Darken Gray nodded politely and then walked towards where Ivory and the others were playing.

"Ivory, say goodnight to your friends, we have things to take care of before the sun fully sets."

There were half hearted protests, but no real resistance to the suggestion. Ivory turned the toy over to her playmates and then left with Darken Gray.

"Are you worried they will break it?" she asked.

"No. I could always fix it, or make another."

Darken Gray wondered if Ivory was generous or manipulative in her sharing. She supposed that it was probably both.

"Where are we going?" Ivory asked her.

"I found a craft that I think will suit our needs?"

"Really? Anything I've seen has had too many military applications. They would never give it up, even if it was a wreck."

"Supplying military equipment to Solars could come back at them. Even if it were a wreck when they let you have it."

Ivory seemed to give that some thought for a few moments. "I suppose so."

"How are you getting along with Yoti and the other technicians."

"Yoti is never going to like me."

"He has reasons. Do you think you can get him to accept you, perhaps respect you?"

"Maybe."

"Then work on that."

Ivory nodded. "The other technicians, the ones that I can actually talk to, seem to like me, maybe."

"The ones you can actually talk to?"

"Yoti keeps me away from them. Partly because he does not want them to see my anima."

Darken Gray supposed the Legion was doing its best to avoid letting it get out they were dealing with Solars.

"I have not heard any complaints about your behaviour. I am pleased about that."

Ivory nodded at the comment that Darken Gray had left purposely vague.

They walked along a path through the woods, coming to a gate. Darken Gray already had a key with which she unlocked it.

Beyond the gate was an overgrown garden, gone almost entirely wild, near the middle was a raised, two story house with a three story tower at the rear of the building.

"This is it," Darken Gray said.

Ivory looked around. "Where is…" she paused. "That is a travelling pagoda."

Darken Gray nodded. "The Legion used this as a very comfortable mobile command post, up until they were no longer able to keep it maintained. Then it was left here, and an old commander used it as a retirement lodge, but it has been empty for almost a decade. It is not military, and the Legion will let us have it."

"But it's not very fast, and it can barely get more than ten feet off the ground," Ivory said.

"I am sure that you can deal with those issues, providing greater speed and higher operating ceiling."

Rising to the challenge, as Darken Gray had expected, Ivory nodded and said, "I probably can."

* * *

"I need you to do something," Tien Yu said.

Ivory was working on tuning the Reality Engine she was planning on leaving behind. She was part way into the device and had to slip carefully free before she could look at the goddess. "What?" she asked.

"I want you to complete repairs on the manse under the city."

"I would love to," Ivory told her, and she would, "but I am not here much longer. It would take a few months."

"What can you do in the time you have?"

Ivory thought about it. "I could make everything stable, set up drains on excess power, prep it all for future repairs."

"How long could you leave that before it became a danger?"

"Several decades, probably."

"I see."

"But I will need permission," Ivory told her. "It's not like this," she looked back at the Reality Engine. "It's not something I could work on in secret, and I would need help. Help that would know I was a Solar."

"Very well. I will speak to some people."

* * *

The next evening, after a day of working on Lookshy's fleet, Ivory was, after her classes with Darken Gray, down in the Solar manse.

There were several technicians down there, including Yoti. She recognised some of them from when she had been there last time, and from their looks they remembered her as well.

At least none of them was calling her Anathema.

"I need to reset the safety features and then replace all the circuitry we burnt out last time," Ivory said. "We'll start in the central chamber and work our way out."

The technicians looked among themselves, as if not sure what to do.

Yoti was frowning.

Ivory sighed and waited.

"Is there a problem here?" Maheka Lespa asked as she entered among them. She was tall, intimidating and the expression on her face was severe.

Almost all of the technicians looked nervous, like scolded children, Ivory thought, hiding a smile.

"No problem here ma'am," Yoti called out.

"Then why isn't anyone working?"

"Central chamber?" Yoti asked Ivory as if everyone had just been waiting for her confirmation.

"Central chamber," Ivory affirmed.

The technicians gathered up their tools and followed after Ivory and Yoti.

* * *

Days spent working on the air fleet. Early evenings in lessons with Darken Gray, and working on the travelling pagoda, late nights working on the manse, and then, in the dark hours before the sun rose, she prowled the secret vaults, gathering up things she needed or wanted.

She did not sleep.

Exalted or not she should have been exhausted.

But she was not.

She would be, that was almost guaranteed, but at that time, she had a boundless well of energy.

There was so much to do, so much to see, even if she tried to sleep she knew she would not.

Darken Gray knew it but said nothing.

Ivory was amazed at it and wanted to talk about it, to talk to someone about it. When she played with Linna and the others, she wanted to brag to them about the amazing things that she was doing.

All she could do was let them be amazed at the toys she made.

And that hardly seemed enough.

When one-day Yoti asked her how she managed to work so hard, she had to restrain herself from telling her of all she did.

Pausing in her work Ivory asked, "Have you ever been working on something, been so intent on it you forgot to eat?"

Yoti nodded.

"Forgot to sleep?"

"Sometimes."

"Forgot to be tired?"

"Not for days on end."

Ivory turned back to the lightning ballistae she had been working on and reached into its workings. "I can't explain it."

"Are all," he paused, "Solars like that?"

Small hands turning a part Ivory listened for the click that would tell her it was locked in place. "I don't know. I have not met too many yet." She pictured Heron in her mind, could easily see him going for days without rest while he played cards, or socialised. And Sparrow, who likely might fight for days. "But I think so."

He made a sound, a thoughtful grunt.

"There, that's done," Ivory said, slapping the casing on the weapon closed.

Yoti stepped up and looked over the lightning ballistae. He shook his head in disbelief, or maybe an attempt at negation.

He still was not happy.

"You're done for the day," he said.

"But this is the last day. I leave tomorrow."

"Done," he repeated, and jumped down from the siege strider, a six legged assault platform, they had been re-arming. "And don't come to the manse tonight."

"But…"

He looked up at her. "Don't come. I am giving the crew a break. Everything that can be done has been done. We are done."

He stalked away, Mesha beside him.

"Well that is rude," Ivory said.

Ivory climbed down from the siege strider and stood under it. "What do you think?" she asked Hu.

The tiger, who had appeared mysteriously as he often did, said, "He still doesn't like you."

"But he kind of accepts me."

"Perhaps."

She turned towards Hu. "Well, I can only do so much. He's got to make an attempt as well."

Hu did not reply.

"Well, other people like me and accept me. As long as he does not hate me, it will be okay. Come on, if I'm done for the day I am gonna enjoy it."

Hu followed her as far as the door into the factory but left her to continue alone.

It was busy in the building, where crews worked on warstriders. Ivory paused here and there to watch what people were doing. All the work that was done there was much on the preventive maintenance side, so none of the units were stripped down enough so that Ivory could get a good look at them.

And they were all soldier units.

None of the huge noble or royal units.

She had really been hoping to work on warstriders. The siege strider had been the closest she had come, and it was not the same.

Outside the factory was a nearly deserted street, lined with various workshops and warehouses. Most everyone was still working.

She skipped along the road, looking about, listening.

Tomorrow would leave the city, she thought.

She left the industrial area behind and entered one of the busier streets. Along the way, she would stop to look in stores and to watch people.

She was going to miss the city, and the work, but at the same time she knew a great adventure awaited her.

And the entire purpose of coming to Lookshy had just been to obtain a vehicle in a manner that might not attract too much attention.

She paused and looked out at the city of Lookshy, for a moment seeing one of brass and full of demons instead.

Ivory shook her head, clearing the vision. There was a mission she had been given.

And she was looking forward to it.

Darken Gray found her not long after.

"Come along Ivory, you have guests tonight."

"Guests?"

"Yes. Best behaviour. You will be demonstrating your proficiency with tea."

"Pardon?"

* * *

Dressed in a long sleeved, formal kimono, Ivory prepared the tea, following the ceremony precisely. She finished whisking the tea, put the whisk aside, turned the bowl, and then handed it to one of the three women who knelt across from her; Karal Linwei.

With Linwei were Maheka Lespa as well as a handsome older woman, with grey hair and lines on her face. She had not been introduced, but Ivory thought she might be related to Linwei for they shared similar features.

They all observed her as she prepared the tea, gazes following the motions of her hands.

Were they looking for fault? Or simply taking pleasure in a well-performed ceremony?

Darken Gray stood near the entrance of the room, as befitted a servant, but Ivory knew she watched just as carefully as the others, seeing much and watching for errors.

Finally, she finished, all three guests had been offered tea.

"You have benefited from your stay here," Lespa said.

Ivory wondered for a moment if Lespa was referring to the gear she had 'borrowed', but she schooled her face to stillness and waited.

"Your experience here had been educational?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"That, of course, is the story," Linwei told her. "You were here, as a favour, to learn from Yoti."

Ivory wanted to say that Yoti had nothing to teach her, but she kept her thoughts to herself and just nodded.

"This requires that you do not gainsay this story," Lespa told her.

"I understand." She paused. "This will put Yoti in danger."

Linwei smiled. "Yes, that is so, and he understands."

"As the architect of the resurrection of much of your sky fleet the Legion's enemies will have to assume it will keep growing."

Linwei nodded. "That is true."

"So we don't have to tell you the value of you keeping this confidential then," Lespa told her.

"I do not have to brag about what I did here," Ivory said, though in truth she wanted to.

"We will trust you to keep this quiet."

"It is for Lookshy's benefit, which may be to our advantage, eventually."

The three women seemed pleased with that answer.

"I have something that I wish to give you."

From the sleeve of her kimono, Ivory brought forth a tightly rolled scroll of pale, cream paper, wrapped in a red ribbon. She placed, with both hands, upon the floor between herself and Linwei.

Linwei and Lespa looked at it as if it were something dangerous. The older woman seemed interested.

"Notes, on what is required to fully repair the Solar Manse. Maheka Yoti should be able to accomplish that with these notes."

Ivory knew she had surprised them. The Solar Manse could have been her guarantee to enter the city again, could have been a binding between her and the Seventh Legion and Lookshy.

They would wonder why she had given up such an asset.

"That is very generous of you," Linwei said, and reached towards the scroll, pausing for a moment, fingers hovering over it, then she picked it up.

"I may not be back. It seemed the right thing to do."

"You think you may not be back?" Lespa asked her.

Ivory nodded. "There is much to do. I hope that I have the opportunity to return to Looshy sooner than later."

"Quite kind."

"Where is it you are going, that such a thing worries you?" Linwei asked, looking at the scroll as if the answer was of little interest to her.

"Doesn't every part of Creation offer danger to the unwary?"

Linwei nodded. "That is true." She did not comment that Ivory had not actually answered her question.

"You leave tomorrow," Lespa said. "We shall leave you so that you might prepare. I must apologise in that none of the senior staff will be available to see you off."

Ivory lowered her head politely. "I thank you for your hospitality."

There were a few more polite leave takings and then the three women had left, and Ivory and Darken Gray were alone in the suites.

Ivory carefully put away the tea things. "Who was the woman with them, do you know?"

"No one has said," Darken Gray told her, "but I believe that she is Linwei's daughter and that if she is, she is named Fire Orchid and is a Solar Exalt like you."

That made Ivory pause. "She did not say anything."

"They did not want you to know. I suspect they wanted her opinion on you."

"But we are Solars. We are on the same side," Ivory said.

Fire Orchid's silence seemed wrong to her.

"Ivory, you may both be chosen of the Unconquered Sun; however that does not mean you are on the same side. Your fellow Solars might be the greatest threat you ever face if your intentions to not align."

Intellectually she understood what Darken Gray was saying.

Emotionally she decided that it would be important to make sure all Solars' intentions aligned with hers.


	2. To the City of the Three Gods

**To the City of the Three Gods**

The sun was not up when the helots, under the guidance of soldiers, took down a section of the fence that surrounded the travelling pagoda.

The path which through the pagoda had long ago arrived had grown over. The helots cut trees down and hauled brush out of the way, clearing the way.

As the sun rose Darken Gray, seated in the control tower, lifted the pagoda from the ground until it was floating three yards above the ground. With a careful hand, she sent it floating out, through the opening in the fence and along the freshly cut path.

Exiting the trees, she turned it sharply onto one of the main roads.

Soldiers went ahead to ensure the path was unobstructed, and block off the cross streets as the pagoda passed.

While early, it was not so early that the pagoda did not draw crowds, people watching as the structure floated quietly down the roads.

Ivory sat in the library with Hu, not being seen.

She wanted to be in the pilot's tower, or if not that, seated at the window, watching the city.

However, she had been asked to maintain a low profile as she left the city.

Apparently she had already attracted a little too much attention, at least according to Yoti.

She read a book, sitting on a chair that was too big for her.

The library would need to be better stocked, she thought.

Hopefully there would be time to make some stops to make purchases on the way out east.

She saw no reason that there would not be.

The pagoda continued along the roads, taking a circuitous route, to travel along streets wide enough to allow it through.

It was almost noon when the pagoda reached the docks, and then, gliding along like a ship at sail, smoothly passed out over the water of the river.

It swung to the East and headed upriver, a house, floating yards above the water.

No longer hampered by the construction of the city around her, Darken Gray gently pushed the throttle forward. Soon the pagoda was flying along at a little faster than twenty miles an hour.

It was not long before Lookshy was behind them. Ivory went to the front of the house, tossed open a set of windows and leaned out into the wind. Hu stood up on his hind legs, put his front paws on the windowsill, joining her.

Ahead of them was the broad expanse of the Yellow River. She could see ships that shared the waterway with them. Darken Gray kept them near the middle of the river, drifting it gently right and left to avoid any ships that also claimed the centre of the water.

Ivory watched people looking over the rails of the ships. She was not close enough to see their faces, but she imagined there wore expressions of amazement.

After perhaps an hour Ivory closed the window and ran towards the back of the house.

She exited, into a small, partially covered garden, and crossed to the control tower at the back. At the top of the tower, Darken Gray sat at the simple controls, piloting the travelling pagoda.

Ivory leaned over the piloting chair, staring out the windows.

"It flies well," Darken Gray told her.

Ivory nodded.

Three stories up and windows all about she had a much better view of the river around her and its banks on either side. "Please take it up to thirty miles an hour."

"Very well." Darken Gray pulled the throttle back, and the pagoda picked up speed.

Ivory left the tower and ran about the interior of the pagoda, making sure that nothing structural was stressed. She was fairly sure it would hold up to the speed, but she had not had a chance to test it.

Returning to the pilot room, she asked Darken Gray to take it all the way to forty miles an hour. Darken Gray agreed, and soon it was moving at the fastest speed it had been built for.

Ivory once more made an inspection, pleased to see everything was holding up.

"We're ready to test out my upgrades," Ivory said happily as she came up the stairs.

"Not until tonight."

"Fine," Ivory said, mostly agreeing with her.

"Go and read that book on Great Forks and then complete a book report before we stop for the night."

"All right," Ivory said, leaving the pilot house and going to the library.

It was hard to focus on the book and the report when all she could think about was putting the upgrades to the test. To see what she had created work flawlessly.

She knew they would work of course, but at the same time, she would not know for certain until they were thoroughly tested.

Had maintaining a low profile not been so important she would have happily pushed the pagoda to its new limits right then.

She would have done it while they were still in Lookshy.

Ivory had almost finished her book report when she felt the pagoda slowing. Looking her work over she made a few changes, decided it was satisfactory, then got up and ran to the front of the house. Out the windows she saw the pagoda was approaching the North bank, a broad, bowed out section of the river, where the slow water suggested great depth beneath.

The pagoda glided to a halt, perhaps a hundred feet off the bank, and settled until it was probably only a yard above the water.

Darken Gray came into the room a minute later, holding the report Ivory had left in the library.

"Satisfactory," she told Ivory.

"Thank you."

"Now, let's have dinner before darkness falls."

Ivory worked close with Darken Gray in the well-stocked kitchen, making the meal.

Apparently learning how to cook well was another important skill. Ivory supposed she was good at it, Solars tended to be at the very least good at most things, but as with anything that Darken Gray taught just being good was not enough.

Because she was eating what she made Ivory had good reason to wish to become better.

Eating was a lesson as well, etiquette and deportment. The table had been laid out in the style of the Varang City-States, and she had to learn all the aspects of a meal layout based on astrology.

Since getting rid of the stupid watch, she had hoped her days of having to care about astrology were behind her.

After the meal Darken Gray pointed out the places they could improve on, then went to wash the dishes, telling Ivory to wait for her in the pilot house.

Learning how to cook was important, learning to clean up like a domestic was apparently not.

Not that Ivory would complain, quite pleased to get out of such chores.

When she stepped out of the house, into the garden, the sun was nearly down. Ivory ran up the tower stairs, and in the pilot house she turned to the West and watched the sun setting.

The time of twilight.

Her time.

She prayed softly, a child's prayer for safety for those she cared about, with a selfish undercurrent of things she wanted.

As the sun began to fade below the horizon mist began to form on the river's surface, soon thick enough to hide the bank a hundred feet away, and the rest of the river.

It did not feel natural. When Darken Gray came up the stairs, Ivory told her as much.

"I arranged it," Darken Gray said. "I thought it best if what happens is seen by no one else." She took the pilot's seat.

"We disappear, people assume the pagoda failed and sunk into the river, or we set out over the land." Ivory nodded, liking the sound of that.

"Certainly for time." Darken Gray was looking at the pilot's station, running her hands over it.

Ivory was tempted just to watch her try to activate the advanced features, and then perhaps suggest that she should be flying. Instead she reached forward and ran her finger along the top edge of the controls. "Press hard, then ease off, then press hard when your finger nears the far edge," she said, explaining the combination.

Ivory's action caused the simple pedestal to unfold like a flower, revealing new controls and devices that projected gauges made of light in the air.

Darken Gray nodded and produced a gem a little smaller than the palm of her hand, a rose coloured, egg shaped crystal. She placed it in the hearthstone socket that was part of the control system.

"Well then, let's see how well you crafted."

The controls had come from Lookshy's boneyards, they had once been part of an undersea courier boat and warbird but now were something unique and beautiful and Ivory was quite proud of them. "It will be all right."

Darken Gray nodded and with a light touch sent the pagoda into a rapid ascent. Ivory felt her ears pop as in a minute they climbed to three thousand feet, far exceeding the three-yard ceiling it had been restricted to before Ivory had worked on it.

"That should be more than high enough," Darken Gray said.

"We could go higher," Ivory said.

"And perhaps we will, but today I feel like offering no insult to heaven."

Ivory was pretty confident that as a Solar she could fly as high as she wanted but said nothing.

Carefully Darken Gray pulled the sophisticated throttle array back, the pagoda picking up forward speed as she did. The structure creaked, a house in a high wind, as it accelerated past the forty miles an hour it had been earlier travelling at and neared almost eighty.

"Would you please examine the house, make sure all is well."

"Right."

Ivory ran down the stairs, eager to see all her work was holding up.

When she opened the door from the pilot tower, the wind tore it from her hands, and she had to grab it and push it closed behind her.

She pushed against the wind to cross the covered garden, then entered the pagoda, holding the door tight so she could close it.

Taking off at a run she checked each room, turning on lights as she did so, scrutinising the windows to make sure the high winds were not threatening to crack them or blow them from their frames.

Pleased at how things were remaining structurally sound she returned to the pilot tower, pausing just long enough to turn on some room heaters.

Altitude and wind were making things chilly.

Another crossing through the wind and she was back in the pilot house.

"Everything is fine," she said proudly.

"We'll hold this speed for a few hours then, heading east and south."

"We can keep this speed for more than a few hours."

"Perhaps, but we'll pass over Great Forks in less than a day travelling this fast. We will slow our pace a little."

"Why?"

"I plan to stop in Great Forks. I would rather Lookshy not know how much faster we can go. We will pass beyond civilisation soon enough. Then we can go as fast as we chose."

* * *

The travelling pagoda sailed upriver, to the confluence of the Rolling River and the Yellow River, at a stately twenty miles an hour. From a distance, it might have been mistaken for another ship or boat making its way towards the city of Great Forks, but as it closed on the docks, it drew more and more attention as people realised what it was.

Not that they stared opened mouth.

They were a people of a city where gods walked the streets, brushing shoulders with Fairfolk, spirits, elementals and even Celestial Exalts.

They would not allow themselves to seem overly impressed by such a wonder, even if that blasé attitude was feigned.

In the pilothouse, Darken Gray manoeuvred among the many ships that moved about the busy docks. Seeing an empty quay near one of the gates she neatly slid the pagoda into place, bringing it to a stop, leaving it floating high enough so the front door was even with the wood surface of the dock.

Ivory stood in the open door, Hu beside her. When the pagoda came to a halt, she neatly stepped down, picked up a coil of rope, one end secured to a dock post, and placed the rope beside the door. She did not secure it, for the Pagoda would not move, but it made it obvious she was claiming the location.

By the time one of the assistant dock-masters, a portly man in tight breeches and an open tunic, approached, Darken Gray was out on the dock with Ivory and Hu. She wore her pencil skirt and suit jacket, with her black, high heels. In her hand she carried a sheathed sabre.

It was a look intimidating enough that the assistant dock-master paused when he saw her and then bowed deeply.

"Honoured guest," he said, "you wish to dock?"

"We do," Darken Gray said, though Ivory thought it was pretty obvious they did.

He nodded, opened his mouth, then closed it, looking uncomfortable.

Like a little boy who was worried about doing something naughty Ivory thought. She supposed Darken Gray could have that effect on some.

"I believe this should cover two days docking fees, as well as paying to have some of your guards watch our method of conveyance and warn people off."

She held a small, cloth pouch out towards him.

He took the pouch, opened it up and looked within.

"Yes, yes, I will personally ensure that no one even looks too long at your magnificent means of travel."

"People are welcome to look, just not touch," Darken Gray said with a smile that the man answered in returned, beaming.

He provided a note of receipt to Darken Gray, called over a guard even as they waited. By the time Ivory, Darken Gray and Hu walked away four large, well-built slaves stood at the end of the dock, and another two near the entry of the house, while a pair of guards supervised them.

Ivory looked over her shoulder as they walked away. "I don't like him."

"Any reason?"

"He's dressed like a rent boy."

For a moment Ivory thought that Darken Gray might have smiled as if she were about to laugh, but all she said was, "I am glad you kept such observations to yourself, and you will find that many people in the city dress in such a manner. Showing off skin and athletic bodies have always been in vogue."

"He did not have an athletic body."

"Some people follow fashions, even if they should not."

As they walked along, moving towards the gate, they mixed among the crowds. While fewer people likely recognised them as those that had come out of the floating house, Hu's presence earned them looks and a respectable distance around them.

Ivory watched people. Visitors, city officials, slaves, and citizens who likely came down to the docks just to watch.

There were children there as well. Many were dressed in loincloths, or simple tunics, whether toddlers or older. Some, about Ivory's age, wore more adult style clothing.

Ivory asked Darken Gray about it.

"At about your age, children enter their apprenticeships, or further education and stop dressing like children."

Ivory was dressed in a light blue, knee length dress, with a dark blue jacket, white stockings and a pair of flat, polished shoes. The dress was silk and the jacket wool, vibrantly dyed so the colours were bold.

It all spoke of money.

The apprentices would be too full of their new status to play with her, and the children would avoid anyone dressed as well as she, at least on the docks.

Ivory had thought to stop at Vinleau on the way, but Darken Gray had convinced her not to.

'It might attract unwelcome attention, so soon after the events with the Wyld Hunt,' she had explained.

Ivory watched a group of children running down the dock.

"Perhaps we can arrange an opportunity for you to play later," Darken Gray said.

For a moment Ivory thought to deny she wanted such a thing, but instead only looked noncommittal.

They were two gods and a Solar exalt, but they entered without giving that away, and while the gate guards recognised them for significant individuals, they did not require that they see the Three.

They walked along the main thoroughfare through the South Quarter. There were vast warehouses, and many guards and officials who made sure the traffic that moved to and from the docks did so efficiently and without mishap. At first there were the crowded tenements and apartments as well as the warehouses, but as they progressed towards the centre of the city, the structure and types of buildings changed, becoming smaller, with more space between, more wealth displayed.

They left the South Quarter behind them and entered the temple district.

Ivory did not ask, but Darken Gray took her to a Temple dedicated to the Unconquered Sun. It was not the grandest of the temples there, but it was well built and well appointed. A few priestesses were about, young women in simple habits of white and gold. They watched Hu carefully, and did not approach too close, but did not complain about the tiger's presence.

Ivory was tempted to let them know who she was, but she kept such impulses in check. Instead she knelt at the shrine and prayed for a time while behind her she heard Darken Gray talking to the priestesses.

She stood, nodded politely to the priestess who Darken Gray was speaking to and left a few gold coins in the offering plate.

Outside she stopped and looked back at the temple.

"What are you thinking?" Darken Gray asked as she walked from the temple to stand by Ivory.

"That the Unconquered Sun's temple should be grander."

"In time perhaps it will. Such a thing will depend on what you and the others do."

"Yes." Ivory nodded. "I guess so."

She was still not entirely convinced.

Darken Gray took her to visit a temple of Luna, and the five maidens, and a well-appointed church dedicated to Lady Aisha Hikari Ex, Goddess of children. It was crowded, full of parents and other caretakers and many children.

"For any important point in a child's life parents might bring their children here for a blessing," Darken Gray said.

Ivory nodded.

"Go and pay your respects."

Ivory walked up to the centre of the temple, where an altar was raised. Children gathered around it, reaching out to touch the slab of white marble, either by their own choice or being directed by adults. Parents placed small babies upon the marble for a moment before whisking them off to make room for others.

Ivory paused and wondered at the white marble. Was there magic in it that kept it clean against all the children who laid hands on it over the years, or did the priests and priestess spend much of their time cleaning it?

She would ask Darken Gray perhaps.

Stopping a few steps from the altar, she reached up and touched the golden band in her hair, a gift from the very goddess the temple was dedicated to. Then she stepped closer, reaching into her jacket, pulling out a scroll, wrapped in a golden silk ribbon.

It was a letter, in her best calligraphy, to the Goddess of Children.

A gift, and a thank you.

Ivory placed it on the altar, pressed her hand to the cool surface, then turned and walked back towards where Darken Gray waited. A priestess laid a hand on her as she passed. "The Goddess' blessing on you child," she said.

Ivory looked at her, smiled. "Thank you."

Darken Gray was not looking at her but towards the centre of the building and the altar. "I'll be outside," she said and left.

Hu was outside, leapt upon a high surface to avoid the many children there that might think the tiger's fur was for petting.

He jumped down and took a seat beside Ivory, Ivory leaned up against him.

Darken Gray came out a few moments later. "Let us go Ivory."

"What were you looking at?" Ivory asked she walked away with Darken Gray.

"Your gift attracted the attention of my Lady. I was curious to see what she thought of the gift."

Ivory nodded, but in all honesty, beyond what proper etiquette demanded she cared little for the Goddess of Children.

"You have attracted her full attention to this temple, and for a time those children who come here will enjoy her blessing."

"I'm glad," Ivory said, though in truth she did not care that much about children she did not know. However she did not begrudge them the benefit they would receive.

While they had taken advantage of all the temples and churches, the real reason they had come to Great Forks was to shop.

Lookshy was a great military city, but it had lacked in some things Darken Gray had thought they needed.

In the Southwest of the city's core was the House of Learning, the city's first university. All around it was the places that catered to the scholars, including many book sellers. Darken Gray and Ivory poured through stacks of books, scrolls, even some rare First Age reading devices. They spent a small fortune to completely fill the travelling pagoda's library.

Afterwards, in an expensive restaurant just outside of the university they had an early dinner. Darken Gray quizzed her on much they had seen that day, and Ivory answered promptly and correctly.

It attracted the attention of a few of the university's teachers, and a Scavenger Lord, who were sitting nearby.

Soon the men had joined them at their table, interested in talking to Ivory, apparently fascinated by her knowledge and her youth.

"You have a quick mind, my dear," the Scavenger Lord said. "A smart young lady like you could go far."

Ivory only smiled and did not mention she had likely already gone farther than he.

"In a few years," the oldest of the teachers said, "you must attend the university. You will do well there I think."

"Thank you sir," Ivory said, tone polite.

Darken Gray sat silently, drinking a glass of wine, watching.

"You say you are travelling, seeing some of the world I take it?" another teacher asked. He was a young man with neatly combed hair. He addressed the question not to Ivory by to Darken Gray.

Darken Gray put her glass down. "That is so. I am to see to Ivory's education."

"Travel is a fine way to learn," the older said. "A basis to build upon. You are a lucky young lady."

"I am aware."

The younger, who was apparently flirting with Darken Gray said, "The opportunity to broaden the next generation's mind is a great one." He held up a wine bottle. "Another drink?"

"Please, and thank you. I am always pleased to meet those who share my passions for teaching."

And she was flirting back, Ivory thought.

* * *

When the meal ended, Darken Gray took Ivory to an Inn, close to the House of Learning.

The building was four stories tall, with a lounge and restaurant on the ground floor. Carpets or ceramic tiles covered the floor, polished, dark woods on the walls and ceilings. It was a restrained luxury.

She and Darken Gray had rooms on the third floor.

Ivory went to the window of her room and looked down on the streets below. She then crossed the hall and knocked the door of Darken Gray's room.

"Come in."

She entered. Darken Gray had removed her jacket and shoes, was seated on the bed.

"I want to go out and look around, maybe go down the docks and see if everything was delivered."

"Very well. Maintain a low profile please."

"I will," Ivory said, not asking what constituted a low profile.

If she did not ask she could not be blamed if her profile was too high after all.

Hu joined up with her outside of the Inn, walking at her side.

Since the tiger had been with her most of the day she considered having Hu with her was still low profile.

Even as the day reached its end Great Forks was still busy, the roads between the docks and the centre of the city still crowded. Ivory moved among wagons and their drivers, couriers and bearers of all sorts of cargo. Crowded as it was, the people gave Hu and, by the relation of her position at his side, Ivory, plenty of room.

They reached the docks without incident, and Ivory found the quay where the pagoda was tied up and guarded.

She did not recognise the guards, but they recognised her for one welcomed her back.

Likely few red headed girls in the city were in the company of a tiger.

The books, papers, pens and other various sundry items were neatly stacked on the dock, a tarp tossed over the boxes and parcels.

Ivory unlocked the pagoda's door, disarming the alarms at the same time.

Asking the help of some of the guards she got everything carried into the pagoda and placed in the foyer. She left Hu there to discourage anyone curious and made a quick tour of the pagoda, taking one of the smaller boxes to the library.

Satisfied that the pagoda was indeed secure and safe Ivory left, locking it up behind her.

As they walked towards the gate Ivory said, "I want to go up on the wall."

Hu paused, and then told her, "Climb on my back."

Ivory smiled and, careful with her skirts, climbed upon his back, her fingers gripping the fur of his back.

Hu moved fast, slipping into shadow, disappearing from the sight of those who were watching. He came out of another shadow, near the base of the wall, and went up the stone, fast. Ivory gripped tightly with her knees as Hu summited the wall, leaping up and then dropping upon the walkway along the top.

They had gone unseen for she heard no cry of alarm or surprise.

Ivory slipped from Hu's back and walked to the low parapet, looking down at the city.

The sun was closing on the horizon and the wall was throwing long shadows over half of the city.

Near the walls were the taller buildings and crowded tenements. Ivory had seen them from the ground, but looking down she had a much better view. People moving around, clotheslines stretched between buildings, rooftops covered in gardens. She could smell the scents of cooking, of hundreds of spices and wood smoke.

Beyond the tenements the city stretched towards the centre, the nature of the roofs changing the closer to the Palace of the Three.

"I could live here," she said after a time.

"What of the Ice Tree?" Hu asked.

Ivory did not answer immediately. "I don't like it there as much," she finally said.

"Because Sparrow brought in that Dragon Blood engineer?"

"Yeah, kind of."

"What about Heron?"

Ivory thought on that, trying to find a way to put confused feelings into words. "As long as I am a child I can't compete with Sparrow. I met him first you know, but she doesn't seem to care."

Hu did not answer.

She looked at Hu. "It's not funny."

"Did you think I was laughing?"

"Maybe."

"Your assessment is correct."

Ivory nodded, looked back at the city. "If I can't win I'm not gonna to play anymore."

"It's not a game you should have been playing," Hu told her.

The tiger's tone made Ivory confident that Hu was commenting more on her young age, but she did not press him. Instead she said again, "I could live here I think. If I can't go home."

"You may be able to go home. Things are changing. The truth of Solars is becoming known."

"That will take a long time."

"Decades at the very least," Hu told her.

"Decades?" Ivory said softly.

"It is not long, not really."

"I've barely lived one decade. I can hardly picture many decades, stacked one on top of another."

That was not entirely accurate though. Through Liger's eye, she had been given the sense of vast amounts of time passing.

But that was not the same.

Even a year seemed like a long time to her.

"I wonder how many other cities there are where I might live. I've heard their names. Chiaroscuro, Whitewall, The Lap, Gem, Abalone, and others. I want to see them."

"You can."

Ivory nodded. "But…"

"But?"

"I want to see them with others. I want to share it."

"I'll be with you."

Ivory turned and put her arms around Hu's thick neck, hugged him. "I'm glad. Will you always be with me," she asked into his fur.

"Yes."

Ivory thought that Hu was lying, but she did not mind.

She liked being lied to about some things.


	3. Cities of the East

**Cities of the East**

It was later in the afternoon the next day when the travelling pagoda pulled away from the docks and continued east along the Yellow Rider. There were some that tried to follow it, for it and its inhabitants were a curiosity. Few could keep up with it.

A particularly stubborn spirit followed for two days before Darken Gray, under the guise of teaching Ivory archery, put an arrow into it.

Standing in the garden Ivory looked off at the way the arrow had gone. "Did you kill it?" she was holding a child's bow, recently bought in Great Forks.

"Doubtful," Darken Gray told her. "But it will not be following any longer." She held a long bow, nearly as tall as she, with a draw that required strength that few mortals could match. "Now," she nocked an arrow and fired it into a tree along the bank, several hundred feet ahead of them, "see how many arrows you can put into that tree. No magic."

Ivory nocked her arrow, drew back and released.

The arrow splashed into the water a hundred feet short of the bank.

Darken Gray corrected her form and Ivory fired again.

The arrow hit the muddy bank.

The pagoda was moving at the speed of a slow walk, so she was able to make several more shots before they pulled even with the tree.

By that time Ivory had hit it three times.

She released the next arrow just as they lined up with the tree and the arrow struck close to Darken Gray's shot.

"Let's see how many more you can put in that tree before we are out of your range."

They continued the archery lesson for almost two more hours, sending hundreds of arrows out into the river, or onto the banks. Darken Gray had purchased barrels of them in Lookshy, just to ensure that they need not let the lack of arrows impede Ivory's lessons.

After the archery lesson, there was dance, then etiquette, then a history of the lands they travelled through.

Finally, after dinner, Ivory was provided with a chance to fly the pagoda.

Sitting in the pilot's chair, she took it several hundred yards into the air before sending it flying forward at almost a hundred miles an hour.

The winds were like a hurricane, but she was confident that pagoda could stand up to a hurricane.

The sensor suite she had built fed data to the controls and showed her what was out in the darkness, which was very little. Other than a few night flying birds, at the height they travelled there was nothing to hit.

She watched the compass, keeping the pagoda on an easterly course.

Three hours later she decided the flying the pagoda was boring.

"I think that is enough for tonight," Darken Gray said.

Ivory had often been asking for the chance to pilot the pagoda, and even though bored by it she said, "I still want to fly."

"You will have more opportunities, go and get ready for bed."

Ivory made a bit of a production of giving up the controls, but once she had left the pilot house she was pleased enough. She would get ready for bed and then read one of the books she had put aside. It was going to be more pleasant than sitting at the controls of the least interesting aircraft in Creation.

* * *

Below them the ground flew by, things appearing on the horizon in front of them, then disappearing behind them. Sometimes Darken Gray would slow the pagoda, even dropping it low to the ground so they might see something up close.

At those times it was not for fun, but for lectures: history, sociology, geography and various other lessons that Ivory was to learn.

Thet passed over the city of Nathir with its thousands of canals and tall towers and Darken Gray told her to how it featured as a trade hub.

At Meresh near the Maruto river, Darken Gray told her of the Arczeckhi, the Wyld tainted barbarians who had sacked Meresh. The small city was surrounded by walls of thorns, raised through some sorcerous manner.

They dropped closer to Meresh so that Ivory could look at the wall, interested in how it had been grown. She was pretty sure she could do the same thing if she chose.

Their approach caused a small bit of panic amongst the city inhabitants, apparently not ready to see a flying house hovering over the thorn walls. A few arrows flew their way but fell short, and then they were away before anyone might get range on them.

Off the main roads, the water routes and the often hidden forest trade paths was a small, forgotten town that Darken Gray knew of. One she wanted to show Ivory.

From the thick forests of the East, a great wedge of grey rock thrust up, nearly three hundred feet higher than the largest of the trees that surrounded it. It was roughly triangular in shape, and the town had been built up along its sides.

The flying pagoda came to a stop at the top of the rock, where a great monastery had been constructed. Ivory jumped from the pagoda and onto the wood of the decking around the monastery. It creaked under her feet, the sound indicating its age, but it had been well built and still held up. She looked up at the building which seemed impossibly fragile. Many towers raised up around in, in each a huge, silver bell.

"Is it deserted?" Ivory asked. "Really?"

"Deserted and forgotten, thought it endures."

"Why? It is far from things, but why is it deserted."

Darken Gray, heels clicking on the old wood, walked towards the monastery. "The monks came here first and built this," she raised her hand, indicating all around them. "They were called the Second Brothers of the Unconquered Sun, founded by a Solar perhaps three hundred years ago."

"What happened to the Solar?"

"The Wyld Hunt. They got to him before he could become too powerful, killed him, erased all records of his name and caste, but the monks escaped. They travelled East, to a location that he, the Solar, had told them about, here."

"Why here?"

"The rising sun hits the top of this rock every dawn, warming the stone. As the sun passed through the sky the cliff's shadow passed over the forest below like a vast sun dial. Over time it became holy to the sun. The monks came here, eventually capped the demense and built the monastery here."

"What about the Wyld Hunt?"

"They lost track of the monks, for the Solar was stronger than they had expected, and they lost many of their numbers."

"The Sidereals?"

"This location is sacred to the Unconquered Sun, and the monks had been taught Golden Janissary style by the Solar. The rock and the monastery are protected. To attack it would have been a political mess."

"Why is the town here?" Ivory paused, looking over a railing, down at the many buildings on the side of the rock.

"Others came, some to learn to fight, others because it was safe, the town grew, as did the reputation of the monks."

"But it is deserted." Ivory hurried after her. Darken Gray had reached the entrance of the monastery.

Darken Gray nodded as she put her hands on the broad doors of the building and pushed, opening them. "They could not attack it, but the Sidereals of the Bronze Faction were not about to let it continue."

Beyond the doors was a great room, circular, glass for walls, in the centre a wooden carving of the Unconquered Sun, nearly thirty feet tall. The polished wood glowed gold and was so smooth it almost looked like metal.

Ivory looked up at it, the stern look on his beautiful face. She recalled what she had said in Great Forks, of the shrine to the Unconquered Sun there. This seemed more the sort of building that Sol Invictus deserved. She thought about the kind of place it must have been when the monks had been there and said, "If a Solar were to have found this place she would have had a well-trained army."

"Yes, exactly so."

"What did they do?"

"They poisoned the water. An elemental was made to take up residence below, secreting its poisons into the great underground spring beneath. Within weeks this place was deserted. No damage was done to it. No offence was given to the Unconquered Sun."

"What happened to them? The monks and the others who fled?"

"Most were killed by the Wyld Hunt in the weeks that followed, those that survived went into hiding. For all purposes the monks were ended. This town wiped out."

"That's terrible."

"It is. And I want you to keep it in mind. Even if your enemies are unable to touch you directly, they can find other ways."

Ivory walked up to the wooden carving and knelt down upon the floor, pressing her hands together in front of her, offering up her prayer, the simple one she almost always prayed.

As she got up and walked back to Darken Gray Ivory asked, "Is the elemental still under here?"

"It is. Ostensibly she is this place's caretaker, which mollifies those that might otherwise argue that disrespect is being offered to Sol Invictus. In truth she is the watchdog here, to keep all away."

"Will she come here, because of our presence?" Ivory asked, not particularly frightened by the prospect.

"No, not while I am here."

"You? Why?"

"Because if she ever puts herself in my sight I will end her. Her poison, it killed all the children that had been here."

Later, as the flying pagoda left the town and the monastery behind Ivory leaned on the fence around the garden and looked back at the rock that rose from the forest. Her red hair was pulled loose by the wind and blew around her face.

"One day," she said to Hu, "I will go back there and drive that elemental away, or kill it, and take that place back."

"It is what I would expect from you," Hu told her.

Ivory wondered if that meant Hu approved.

* * *

The flying pagoda put down just outside of the gates of Nechara. The city state was influential and notable for being the farthest South Eastern stop of the Guild's trade routes. It was also on the trade routes that led to the wealthy Dreaming Sea states.

Guild officials, the caravan drivers and their guards, the small traders who went out into far east and the borderlands, as well as the citizen's themselves, mixed together in a colourful weave and pattern.

From the forest near the river, three hundred twenty pillars rose into the sky, each one fifty feet high and half that in diameter. What their purpose had been Darken Gray could not say, and Ivory could not guess, but now they formed the base for the city. A huge platform of wood and steel had been laid out upon it, and on that platform much of the city was constructed.

The effect was a large city that rose high above the trees, seeming to float above the canopy.

Darken Gray found some men who would guard the Pagoda. She paid them well and likely used some magic to ensure their honesty. Then she and Ivory entered the city proper.

The platform itself was almost as thick as the pillars were high. On the edges Ivory made out old structures, previous buildings that the current city had been built upon. She wondered if there were tunnels of old streets and chambers of old buildings beneath her feet.

As they walked Darken Gray explained how the city came to be, of how the Guild's presence shaped what had developed there.

"You'll find many city states like Nechara along the edges of Creation, surviving on trade and the Guild's presence. Slaves travel from within Creation, out to the edges and the Fair Folk who purchase those slaves, wonders from the Wyld flow back."

"Is this important?" Ivory asked. Paying attention to Darken Gray made it harder to look around at all there was to see.

"It is if one day you decide to end or co-opt the Guild."

Demons, Wyld Hunts, the dead, these were the things that had occupied Ivory's attention over the past months. The Guild was not something that had seemed too important to her.

Darken Gray's words made her think about it.

While she was thinking about that Darken Gray said, "The nobility here have courted the favour of the elementals and spirits, even the demons."

"Courted?"

"As in seeking breeding partners."

Ivory wanted to appear to be cosmopolitan, but she felt her cheeks heat up slightly. "I see," she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"They use the powers they get from their supernatural parents to provide for the city. Come here."

She led Ivory to the walled edge of the platform, an open area on which stood box fed, spring powered ballistae, where guards walked, looking out into the jungle. The wall was low enough that Ivory could look over it if she stood on her toes.

"What am I looking at?"

"Orchards, beyond that rice patties, beyond that, grain fields. They likely keep goats close to the city, and they husband wild boar in the forests."

Ivory looked at the fields and the forest, at the people moving among the patties and orchards, wondered if there were hunting parties among the woods.

"Everything seems to be growing well."

"That is so. Those who are children of wood elementals work hard to make those crops grow well."

Ivory looked out at the fields for a little longer and then asked, "What about those that have parents that are other types of elementals or demons?"

"Slay monsters, break armies, oppress their people and negotiate with other city states from a position of power."

"And Nechara benefits?"

"Very much?"

"And what do the surrogates demand for their seed?" Ivory asked, glad she had not blushed.

"That is the question. The spirits and elementals of course demand much, and that is one of the reasons that Nechara has had to indebt itself to the Guild. The Guild is one of the few organisations that can help them meet all those demands."

Ivory thought about it. "So, if someone like me could help them meet those demands I could cut the guild out and set up a position of power?"

Darken Gray smiled. "If that is what you wished."

"Are there would be others places like Nechara?"

"There are others in similar situations. This far east there are many threats. The Guild is one of those few groups that have enough power to help them. The Guild helps maintains many cities like this on the borders of Creation. They benefit of course."

"Do we need them?"

"The Guild or the cities?"

"Both. Either."

"Places like this help maintain the borders," Darken Gray said.

"Pardon?"

"They help hold back the forces of Chaos. They are real, and their presence alone makes the area around them more real. They help to keep the Wyld from creeping farther in."

"Oh," Ivory said with a nod.

Darken Gray led Ivory away from the city's edge and began to talk about the City's history, as much as she knew. "The pillars, they are almost certainly from the First Age, likely some great project that was never finished. Forgotten, until after the Great Contagion, until after the Fair Folk invaded, this was the place where a small group of survivors made their stand. Most died here."

Ivory was not certain what to think of something that had happened so long ago, and so many had died in those times.

"A Solar Exalted was here."

"Really?" Ivory asked. Now she was interested.

"A handful of mortals, against an army of Fair Folk, a single swordsman stepping out against a mighty champion of his enemy. Of course he Exalted. He had twenty years here before the Wyld Hunt finally was able to find him. He built a city greater than what is here now, and the Wyld Hunt burnt it down in killing him. Or perhaps he burnt it down so no one else could take it."

"What do you think?" Ivory asked as she followed Darken Gray.

"I think it will never be known, but even with the city gone the Solar had done much to make the area around here safe and bountiful. It was little wonder that others came and rebuilt. It grew and again became great until the Arczeckhi horde attacked. This was where one of the decisive battles took place. One of those actions that drove the Arczeckhi back and broke their power for centuries. It also destroyed much of the city."

"And they rebuilt it," Ivory said.

"Mortals will almost always rebuild, given time. It is one of their defining features."

Near the centre of the city was a high pillar made of steel and wood. Ivory had seen it when they came in, but up close she was able to see how large it was, and as they closed she needed to tilt her head back to see the top. And at the top was a winged giant, made of woven branches, like some huge wicker work basket.

"That is Imenza, Elemental Lord of either air or wood or both in some unnatural mating."

"Imenza?"

"A rogue, who has been," she paused, "providing a great deal of his seed to those who seek it. In return he demands worship, daily prayers, obedience."

Ivory looked around, taking note of the men and women in robes who circled the area. She had given them little attention before, but watching could see them moving their lips in quiet prayer while manipulating chains of wooden beads.

Ivory frowned.

"What are you thinking?"

"The Immaculate Order speaks up against exactly this thing. And while I know the Order is so much," she paused, as she had been about to swear, something she had heard a soldier use in Lookshy, "garbage, it is hard to forget it all. I am also thinking that elemental has a job that is not being done."

Ivory thought she might have heard a creak and squeak of wood sliding on wood. She looked up, wondered if the giant above was looking towards her.

She almost hoped it was.

"Things have changed since the First Age. As you say, many gods and elementals are not doing what they should."

Again there was that sound, like wood sliding on wood. Ivory did not look up this time.

Darken Gray walked towards the base of the pillar. Ivory followed her around the pillar, to an opening on the other side. Within a set of stairs spiralled down. Darken Gray started down them, Ivory went after.

The stairs were well cared for, clean, the wear on the steps suggested they were often used. At the bottom was a flat surface, Ivory thought it was likely the top of one of the pillars the city was built on.

A chamber there was lit by a large lamp, most of its light directed onto man sized rock, wrapped in hemp ropes hung with paper prayer strips.

"This is a shrine, raised to the Solar from long ago. The Wyld Hunt did not quite remove all evidence of him."

Ivory walked up to the rock, saw the Old Realm carvings on it. "Deiffen First Blade," she read out loud, "Champion of the Sun."

"Only a handful still remember who he was, know what he did, but they have not entirely forgotten."

"Does the elemental above help hide this?"

"If so that is a happy accident. Imenza only cares for Imenza. If he ever chooses to fight for this city it will only be to protect his worshippers so they can continue to direct prayers and essence towards him. But he is like a big dog in the yard, even if the dog will not bite."

Ivory nodded as she stood in front of the rock. She stared at it for almost a minute, frowning as she did. "I don't want to end up like this, only remembered by a few."

Darken Gray did not say anything.

After a few minutes, Ivory turned away from the stone. "Thank you for showing me this."

"It is the history of this place. Now we will see what books we can buy. I will expect an essay by tomorrow morning." She started up the stairs.

"Tomorrow? I won't have time to do anything else."

"Ivory, we are travelling about Creation. I think you will find plenty of time to pursue your goals, but tonight you will be writing an essay."

Ivory did not protest or grumble about it, for she knew it would not change Darken Gray's mind.

However she was growing tired of being told what to do.

Few beings had told her what to do in Malfeas.

* * *

Later in the afternoon, hired servants walking behind them, their arms loaded down with boxes of books and other purchases, Ivory and Darken Gray returned to the Pagoda. There they found a small crowd of curious onlookers. Among them was a well-dressed woman, accompanied by big guards in armour, carrying long, sheathed great swords.

Older than most in the crowd, but tall and straight and beautiful, she stepped forward, not quite blocking Darken Gray's path. "This artefact, the flying house, it is yours?" Up close Ivory could see a particular cast to her features that reminded her of the Neomah from Malfeas.

Demon Blooded.

Ivory recalled Darken Gray saying some of those that were the offspring of the Supernatural oppressed their people. She had a feeling that this woman was like that.

Ivory looked between the two women, noting Darken Gray did not answer immediately.

"It is," the goddess said just before the silence could grow uncomfortable, or threatening.

"Would you sell it."

"No," Darken Gray answered immediately.

The older woman looked at Darken Gray, the crowd about them. Ivory could almost see the calculus in her mind. The value of the floating pagoda. The witnesses. She did not look at Ivory, discounting her.

Ivory considered the number of ways she might kill the woman.

Might kill everyone in the crowd.

It was only a momentary thought.

It surprised her though, and she kept silent where she might otherwise talk.

"I understand," the woman said a few seconds later, her calculations done. "If you change your mind, please seek me out." From her robe she drew out a card of thick, white paper, covered in ink so black it shone purple in the late sunlight.

"Of course," Darken Gray said politely as she took the card.

The woman stepped to the side and circled around Darken Gray, walking away. Her guards went with her.

Ivory watched them until Darken Gray called her.

She followed her into the Pagoda. A short time later it lifted into the air and gently floated away from the city state, picking up speed, leaving Nechara behind.

Ivory stood in the garden, watching the city recede in the distance.


	4. In the Town of Far Hold

**In the Town of Far Hold**

Days passed, civilisation was left behind. One last bastion, as Darken Gray put it, their last scheduled stop while they travelled east.

Far Hold.

Ivory had been given lessons as they had approached.

Lessons about the ten tribes that had once worshipped Elder Oak, and how Elder Oak had eventually turned his back on them, accepting worship instead from the temple that the Guild had built for him. It was betrayal, and the Ten Tribes were driven back by the Guild backed loggers and their sorcerers.

They approached the far off outpost of 8000 people. A town surrounded by a tall, ironwood palisade.

"It is a rough place," Darken Gray explained. "loggers mostly and some farmers who live outside the walls. There are a handful of families, but most people here are just looking to strike it rich, seeking easy money."

Darken Gray flew the floating pagoda over the sharp demarcation where the old forest stopped, and the cleared ground, with its patchwork farms and new orchards, began.

The people there, Ivory had learned, worshipped, almost universally, Elder Oak. He laid requirements on the lumberjacks to protect the forests even as they harvested from it.

For following his demands and for their worship, he protected the town and its people, as he had once protected the Ten Tribes.

The pagoda descended until it floated only a few feet off the ground.

It was dark out, an hour or so till dawn, and there were no lights in the pagoda.

They were almost invisible on the edge of the trees.

"I want you to go into Far Hold, alone, and confront Elder Oak," Darken Gray said.

Ivory was surprised by the statement, and it was a few seconds before she asked, "Confront?"

"Meet with him. Do as you will. This is an exam."

"How do I pass?"

"How indeed?"

Ivory did not like it.

It seemed unfair.

"Can I take my swords?"

"Do you want to take your swords?"

That was infuriating. "Are you setting me up to fail?" Ivory demanded.

"I am giving you an opportunity to succeed on your own terms."

That was not the answer that Ivory had expected.

Her own terms.

That could mean anything.

She might destroy the entire town, leaving nothing but a crater behind.

"Fine," Ivory said, and left the pilot house.

A short time later

as she entered her room she called out, "Hu, let's go into town."

From a dark corner where he lay Hu answered, "Not this time. You are to go alone."

"Since when did you listen to Darken Gray?" Ivory demanded.

"I don't listen to her as much as agree with her test. You do not need me."

"Maybe I don't, but what if I do?"

"If you need me, I will be there, but likely that will be considered a failure by Darken Gray."

Unfair, Ivory thought but grabbed up her orichalcum breastplate. "Okay. That's fine. Maybe I'll come to not need you at all," she said without really thinking as she slipped into the armour.

"Yes, that is the end we should both seek."

Ivory had just finished locking the fasteners on the breastplate when what Hu said fully registered in her mind.

"What? You'd leave me?"

Hu did not answer.

Ivory's words were stolen by equal parts fear and anger.

Hu had been a constant since she had Exalted. Her life had been short so far, and even so, Hu's part in it had not been long, but Ivory could not fathom being without Hu now.

She almost apologised, almost let the tears that prickled in her eyes flow, but instead, she spun and grabbed her long cloak, throwing it over her shoulders and turning her back on Hu. She grabbed her short daiklaives from the stand by the door and strode from the room, stomping her feet as she went.

Neither Hu nor Darken Gray saw her off as she jumped down from the pagoda.

She looked back at the dark bulk of the structure, watched as it floated up and back over the trees, disappearing from sight.

"I don't like this," she said, then turned and started towards Far Hold.

"I'm going to do something about it."

The first thing she did was to find the, not wanting to stumble through fields and among trees in the darkness.

The sun was starting to come up as she approached the gates. Already they were open, lumberjacks and mercenaries, who protected the lumberjacks, heading out into the forests. They looked at her as they passed on the road, but they were too busy to give her anything but a cursory look.

Once she reached the gates that lack of interest changed. One of the mercenaries there demanded that she state her name and business.

She pulled back the hood of her cloak. "My name is Ivory, and I am here on a pilgrimage to see Elder Oak."

A child, walking out of the dark, alone. Of course, they were wary.

However Ivory knew that she had to play up that wariness, but not let it turn into fear.

The golden band in her hair of course spoke of money, and she was neat and well presented. She let her cloak hang so as to cover her armour and weapons.

There were four mercenaries at the gate, members of the Golden Axe Brotherhood, out of Nexus. At least that was what Darken Gray had told her of the towns guardians.

She smiled; a little girl's smile who knew a secret.

"You're on a pilgrimage?" The one who had first spoken asked.

"Yes. To see Elder Oak."

"Why?"

"My teacher told me to."

The men looked at one another, and another asked, "Your teacher? Where is your teacher?"

"Not here. I was sent ahead. I will meet up with her later." Another smile. "I hope I'm successful."

"Why do you need to see the god?" A mercenary who had not yet spoken asked. His attention was focused on her, and he was frowning.

Ivory sweetened her words with essence, made her bearing say, 'I am harmless', presented herself at that moment as just another child. "I wanna to speak to him and ask for his blessing."

Her sweet, high voice drew smiles from all of them.

"All right, go in," the one who had been the most mistrustful said. "But don't cause any trouble or likely the sheriff will thrash you."

"I understand," she answered while at the same wishing ill on anyone who might think to thrash her.

She passed through the gate, stepping to the side to avoid the large, ox drawn wagon on its way out. She moved away from the gate and out of sight of the guards. Not that she was worried about them suddenly coming to their senses, but it was possible they would start to ask themselves if they should have been more concerned about the safety of a little girl alone in the town.

For being on the very edges of civilisation, Far Hold was a large outpost, tall buildings, some as high as five stories, crowded together. While the main roads were wide enough to allow wagons to pass, beyond them were narrow, twisty ways between buildings.

Ivory walked for a time, somewhat aimlessly at first, but then, following her nose, towards a bakery. Several men were leaving, carrying bundled loaves of bread, laughing among themselves as they shouldered axes. Ivory waited for them to pass and then entered.

The interior was all clean, bare wood, though stones had been placed under the big oven and on the walls around it. The large woman dressed in white seemed to be the baker. The two young men helping her had the look of apprentices.

"What do you want?" one of the apprentices asked.

Ivory did not answer right away, watching as the Baker pounded out a light brown ball of dough. Under the white clothing, Ivory could see large muscles moving.

The apprentice who had spoken was opening his mouth when Ivory said, "A small loaf of bread please." She produced a small coin, copper and bright green. A realm yen coin might not be seen too often out here, but the apprentice recognised its value.

Paying a full coin for a single small loaf was too much, so she snapped it in half.

The apprentice did not complain as he took the half coin in exchange for the bread.

Ivory moved to the corner of the room, where she would not be in the way of anyone, and tore a piece of the thick bread from the loaf. It was still warm, a little steam rising up from its soft brown interior.

It had an odd taste, which it took Ivory a moment to identify as nuts.

She supposed it made sense.

Flour would not be easy to come by.

"What do you think?"

Ivory looked up to see the large woman watching her.

"How do you prepare the nuts?"

She smiled. "Grind them up and press out all the oil, let that dry and then grind them again into powder. Does it taste good?"

"It's different. I made bread the other night with flour."

"Flour is for special days because it's expensive."

"It tastes better."

"It doesn't taste better, just different. People here will swear by nut flour bread."

"How do you make it?" Ivory asked as she tore another piece from the loaf and put it in her mouth.

"Same way as you'd make bread with flour. You'll need olive oil though."

Ivory nodded as she swallowed.

"Not looking for a job are you? I already got apprentices, and a little thing like you would be of no use."

Ivory shook her head. "Just curious. I am supposed to learn how to cook and bake."

"Useful skill," the woman said, then walked back towards the oven. "Mix up some more nut flour," she told one of the apprentices, and to the other, she said, "go and get some more wood for the fire."

Ivory moved up to the counter, looked over it at the baker. "What do you think of Elder Oak?" Ivory asked.

The Baker tore a chunk of dough free from the mass she had been working on. She began to shape it. "What do you mean?"

"Do you worship him?"

"Most everyone in town prays to him, follows his directives. Only smart. He keeps Far Hold safe."

"Do you like him?"

The woman put the loaf she had shaped down onto a tray. "Never gave it much thought. Why do you ask?" She turned and looked at Ivory, more curious than suspicious.

"I am on a pilgrimage to meet him."

"Elder Oak?"

Ivory nodded.

"Strange pilgrimage."

"My teacher asked me to. It's educational."

"Educational? I suppose."

"Is he dangerous?"

"Not as long as you listen to what he asks, and all he really asks is that we respect the forest."

"I haven't hurt the trees," Ivory told her.

"Then he's not dangerous."

Ivory wondered about that but just nodded as she finished her bread.

When she left the bakery, the woman told her to take care of herself. Ivory thanked her.

The sun was fully up, the day warming.

She took her time, wandering the town, watching people, listening. There were not many children, so she stood out, and more than one person asked her what she was doing. Ivory told them she was on a pilgrimage to see Elder Oak, and that she had been given that task by her teacher. Only a few times she was forced to call on her essence to make those who were suspicious less so.

It was close to noon when she heard someone call out, "You girl, stop."

Looking towards the origin of the voice Ivory saw a woman, head shorn of hair and dressed in the robes of an Immaculate monk.

"Yes?" Ivory asked, scrutinising the woman.

She saw no visible signs that the woman was Terrestrial Exalted. However the blessings of the Dragons did not always show, and there were others forms of power, as she well knew, that were not always evident.

The monk hurried up to her, looked her up and down. "What is your name girl?"

Ivory considered demanding the monk's name first, or perhaps even suggesting her name was not the concern of a mortal Immaculate Monk. However, in the end, she chose to answer politely.

"My name is Ivory Peleps."

She was not concerned about using her real name. Likely this far east no one had even heard her name—yet—and even if news of her being here travelled west she would be far gone by the time anyone came looking for her.

"Peleps? Don't lie to me."

I am not lying," Ivory told her, suddenly a little angry. "I am Ivory Peleps, Daughter Jade Dolphin, a direct descendant of the Empress. Chosen of…" she shook her head. "Who are you?"

The monk looked a little surprised at Ivory's outburst, and she answered immediately. "I am Righteous Lily," she paused, perhaps surprised by how quick she had answered and then added, "monk of the Immaculate Faith."

Ivory nodded. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

Righteous Lilly looked off put by the way the discussion had gone. She took a deep breath. "Why are you trying to meet Elder Oak," she asked as she let out her breath.

"My teacher had sent me to speak with him."

"Your teacher?"

Ivory nodded.

"Well, go back and tell your teacher you are not to speak with him."

Ivory was angry of course, but at that moment more curious, so she asked, "And why should I do that? Is he dangerous?"

"Of course he is dangerous. He is a god who interacts with mortals, outside of the Immaculate Faith."

She said it with the tone of horror and distress that Ivory suspected she would have echoed before she had been chosen by the Unconquered Sun.

But that sort of belief no longer had a part in Ivory's philosophy.

"Are you here to fight Elder Oak?" Ivory asked, though she already was certain the monk did not directly oppose the god.

Reinforcing that belief was the woman's eyes widening slightly in surprise as she shook her head. "No, I only minister to the souls of those here. Remind them of the truth. It will be up to others to confront Elder Oak."

Ivory looked up at the woman, and a handful of cruel thoughts ran through her mind, cutting remarks she might say, but she paused before she voiced them.

"That's very kind of you," Ivory said. Pointless, but kind.

Righteous Lilly nodded, then seemed to remember she was an adult. "Now I want you to turn around and return to your teacher and tell them you are not to see the god."

"No," Ivory said.

"Excuse me?" she asked after a few seconds.

"I am not going back. I am going to see Elder Oak."

"Child, I don't think you understand." Righteous Lily reached for Ivory.

Ivory stepped back, out of the woman's reach. "I understand. I thank you for your concern." She decided to be polite. "But I have to do this."

Righteous Lily looked at her, then, moving fast, with a skill speaking of years of training, she shifted forward to grab Ivory.

Ivory stepped out of the way.

Her long cloak got tangled up in Righteous Lily's feet, and the woman almost fell, but she neatly shifted out of the cloth and ended up a few steps from Ivory.

A few people had stopped to watch. Righteous Lily looked towards them and then at Ivory. She looked thoughtful, face pinched by the expression.

Ivory supposed she might be concerned about her reputation were she to be seen fighting a child. And she likely realised that she might indeed have to fight.

"Very well Ivory Peleps. Go as you please, but you endanger your soul, and your behaviour does a dishonour to your family. However, once you had realised you foolishness you may seek the Immaculate Order out, and we will offer you the opportunity at forgiveness." She turned and walked away.

Ivory did not argue, though she wanted to, and she knew that the Immaculate Order would not be a place of sanctuary or forgiveness for her.

She turned and walked towards the shrine, trying to put Righteous Lily from her mind.

However, she could not help but wonder why the woman had travelled so far. Was it to impress the Dragons, in hopes of being Exalted by them? A small part of her wondered that had she not been chosen by the Unconquered Sun, had she grown to adulthood not chosen by the Dragons, would she have sought out some way to show her faith?

Shaking her head, Ivory refused to let her mind dwell on such things.

She was chosen by the Unconquered Sun, the greatest of gods.

Stopping outside of the wooden temple of Elder Oak Ivory wondered how she might approach the god. She could blow the structure away with any number of spells and then stand ready for the god and its anger.

All of Far Hold would likely be destroyed.

Was that the test? The brute force answer?

Perhaps.

She stared at the temple for a time. It was constructed all of oak, magnificently carved and built, around it a grove of young oak trees. Reaching up she slipped her cloak off and lay it at the base of one of those trees. Next, her swords, placed on the cloak, and then she unlocked the clasps on her armour and lay that by the swords.

Unarmed and without armour, Ivory was dressed in a long dress of white that went to her knees, white laced, knee high boots of kid leather with red ribbons on the ankle. Over that a short jacket with a fur collar, white as her dress.

She skipped lightly across the ground, spun on an extended toe, arched her back and spread her arms.

She had been taught to dance, as befitted a young dynast. Dance classes had been part of her life as long as she could remember. She had been good, for a child, though her instructors had always made certain she had known she lacked mastery.

But that was before she had become a Lawbringer.

That was before the essence that filled her was the essence of perfection.

Her steps, her gestures were touched by the power of the Unconquered Sun, and she danced finer than any mortal. The essence was a subtle flame within giving her impossible grace. In the movements of the dance she wove a spell, unseen by those who might watch.

And people did watch.

A few at first, stopping to look at the girl, dancing among the grove of trees. Then more, coming from the town, or out of the temple. Ivory was aware of them but discounted them. She focused on dance and magic and where the two intersected for her.

About her rose a green mist and the trees around her seemed to lean in as she passed them. Her skin took on a green tinge, and her red hair was like the leaves of autumn oaks. Flowers and vines at her feet swayed out of her way so as to not trip her, and Ivory's steps were precise, not harming any one of the plants that grew there.

She was not sure how long she danced, nor did she care, but she was aware when the one she wished to meet was watching her.

With a final flourish her dance ended, and she stood in front of Elder Oak. Spreading her hands, she lowered her eyes slightly, not a bow, but a gesture of respect.

"Elder Oak," she said.

The god was a tall, human shaped figure, with smooth bark skin and hair that was oak leaves, so green they almost seemed black. A high, noble brow and a wide expressive mouth, eyes obscured by bushy, moss like eyebrows.

"Why do you dance? Why the magic that makes you a friend of the forest? Are you here to worship me?"

"My prayers and my worship are only for one god Elder Oak. My dance was a gift, the spell so that we might better understand each other. I wish to talk to you."

"Oh ho? Your actions are strange child, and yet they do not displease me. What god do you kneel to?"

She smiled and looked up at him. On her brow, for a moment, glittered her golden caste mark. "Sol Invictus."

Elder Oak's eye brows rose, revealing dark eyes of polished wood.

"I would speak with you alone."

"Clear my temple," the Forest Walker demanded.

The people around them had not seen the mark on Ivory's brow, had heard little of their talk, but expressed some surprise at the god's demand.

"Come, and we shall talk."

Ivory followed him into the temple, unconcerned for those things she had left under the tree, confident that they would be safe.

Within the temple was more of the beautifully carved wood work, and the altar to Elder Oak sparkled with silver and gold and gems, and behind it, a model of an oak tree, ten feet tall, plated with the same materials of the altar. The branches of the tree were adorned with hundred of prayer strips. The air was perfumed by incense.

It was beautiful, and part of Ivory burned with anger she had not known before, that a god such as Elder Oak would command such worship. However, at that moment, the spell made her companion and family to the plants and trees, and her anger was tempered by compassion.

"I was sent here," Ivory announced, "to confront you."

He looked down at her. "Confront me? Why?"

"I was not told. I was to decide on my own."

The god appeared wary. "And what have you decided?"

"That I am not going confront you with spells of fire and destruction."

"I see."

Ivory walked up to the altar. "I could though."

"I am aware Lawbringer."

Ivory turned on her heel. She nodded. "Lawbringer. Do you see to the care of your forest Elder Oak."

"Always."

She looked around the temple. "And this?"

"I can protect my forest and enjoy the benefits of worship."

Ivory nodded after a moment. "Yes, I suppose you can."

"So what is left here, if you accept my actions?"

Ivory was about to say she was done but paused. "I want a piece of quartz, from somewhere in your forest."

"Pardon?"

"It does not have to be large, a little bigger than the size of my fist. Quartz, from a point of power within the forest, where the essence pools."

"What interest would I have in rock? I am not an earth elemental."

Ivory smiled. "I could summon one, set it hunting."

Elder Oak looked disquieted.

"If you help me I will tell anyone that asks you are serving Creation as you should."

"And who could you report to Lawbringer that I would benefit from such a thing?

She reached up and touched the golden band in her leafy hair. "Lady Aisha Ex, goddess of Children, gave this to me. I can have the ear of Five Days in Darkness. I might speak to a Sidereal any day now as there is at least one that is likely to bother me again."

The Forest Walker regarded her for several seconds. He nodded. "Yes, I believe you, which means there is a benefit to giving you what you ask for. There are places within my forest where perhaps I have seen such rock. I will take you there, and you will speak well of me."

"Of course," Ivory agreed.

"Then follow me Lawbringer. We will make haste and travel quickly."

"I will keep up," Ivory promised.

They exited the temple, some people watching. In those gazes a mixture of shock, interest, concern, even anger or fear among some. Ivory did not give them much attention, focusing instead on following after Elder Oak.

Ivory took a few seconds to gather her things from where she had left them, putting armour and cloak back on as she followed, placing blades at her waist.

When they left the town and moved among the orchards Elder Oak's pace increased. Ivory matched him, thanks to the spell she had cast on herself.

Passing from the cut and cultivated lands into the forest proper saw a further increase in speed and Ivory found herself then pressed to keep up.

Around them, the forest seemed to pass in a blur. Ivory and Elder Oak moved, unhindered, through the thickest growth, beneath an interwoven canopy that left them in green tinted shade.

When they finally stopped Ivory was not certain how long they had been walking. An hour, perhaps two, but she was certain they were farther from the town than such a time could account for.

Where Elder Oak stopped a spring gushed from the mouth of a small cave. No trees grew immediately around it, for the ground was either rocky or sodden and muddy. Further from the spring, the trees that grew were all tall and straight ironwoods that formed a nearly impenetrable barrier about the spring.

Essence flowed all around, almost something Ivory could taste. It was raw and clean, uncertain in its form, for it took of the wood, and the water and the rock.

A manse could be raised here, Ivory thought, the essence directed to one flavour, probably wood.

Of course she suspected that Elder Oak would prefer the area remains as it was.

And it would be impolite to raise a manse here without his permission.

But perhaps one day…

"… will be found in the cave."

"What?" Ivory asked, looking to Elder Oak.

"The rock you seek. You will find something inside the cave I believe."

"Of course," Ivory said, taking a step towards the spring.

Something grabbed the back of the collar of her dress, twisted it, so it was pressing against her neck, then lifted her up off her feet. Not enough to choke her, but close.

She kicked and twisted as she hung in the air.

Elder Oak spun. "You," he shouted at whoever held her. "You are not welcome here Dark Eyes."

"And you would stop me, Forest Walker? Stop thrashing lest I break you," the person who held Ivory yelled, giving her a shake hard enough she felt her teeth rattle.

For a moment Ivory stopped thrashing about.

"This place as the entire forest will belong to the tribes, once I have destroyed the invaders."

"You will fail. Now release my guest and go."

"Your guest?" Ivory was shaken again. "A little sorceress. Another of your Dragon Blood allies," he snarled. "What reason have you brought her here? What threat do you present to the tribes?"

"I no longer care for the tribes or their fate," Elder Oak said, seeming to grow taller. "If they can succeed in destroying Far Hold perhaps I will listen to their prayers again. Now release her and go."

"They will not worship you," the man shouted, with each word giving Ivory a shake.

Ivory's feet had been tracing out a particular pattern, though to the one holding her it might seem that she was just kicking her legs helplessly. She danced in the air the steps of the Storm Spider Dance. And as she raised her hands in the final part, as if they were the fangs of a striking spider, eight legs of lightning sprouted from her back.

Sadly the energy was not as deadly as a true lightning strike, and the one that Elder Oak called Dark Eyes likely only felt a tingling as the legs passed through him. It surprised him though, of that Ivory was certain. With eight legs to support her Ivory twisted about, breaking free of the grasp, then leaping away, the legs climbing her spider-like up the trunks of several iron wood trees.

She looked down at the clearing from about fifteen feet in the air.

The one called Dark Eyes was a tall, muscular man whose long, silver hair suggested to Ivory he was no mortal.

He stared up at her, dark eyes that named him wide in surprise.

Ivory reached for her swords.

He moved, leaping up at her.

One of her blades was knocked from her hand, and she dropped the other one, long claws having lacerated her wrist.

Ivory hissed in pain, felt tears in the corner of her eyes.

Had she been mortal likely she would have lost her hand.

Dark Eyes landed lightly, spun so he could watch both Ivory and Elder Oak.

Ivory ignored the pain as she began to move her fingers, starting the cat's cradle weave of essence.

"Enough," Elder Oak bellowed.

All around them the trees shifted, long thorns growing from branches as they seemed to lean in.

"You will end this battle, or I will help the one who is next attacked to destroy the attacker."

Ivory did the math.

She was confident she could win.

Below her, she suspected that Dark Eyes did the same calculations and came to a different conclusion for he straightened from his crouch and took several steps back towards the trees. "I will honour your wishes," he said, disappearing amidst the trunks.

Elder Oak watched where Dark Eyes had gone for several seconds before his demeanour grew less wary. "Come down and let me look at your wrist."

Ivory descended on spider legs. She dismissed the spell as she reached the ground, the legs disappearing with a soft crackling sound.

Elder Oak gently took her arm, looked at the wound. It had already stopped bleeding, but the injury was ugly, torn open to the bone.

He gently placed his fingers against the lacerations. Ivory felt a cold tingle, and when he removed his fingers, the wound was much healed.

"I am do not treat animal creatures such as you," he told her, "but you have taken on some of the nature of the element of wood. You fall, even if temporarily, into my purview."

Ivory nodded. "Who was that?"

"He is called Dark Eyes, a lunar. He is attempting to unite the tribes I abandoned. He may try to kill me if he manages that."

Ivory thought about that. "That does not concern you?"

"I am eternal as this forest. It may change, but it will take significant effort to destroy it."

Ivory did not tell him that she thought that she was capable of the effort he described.

"Dark Eyes is no longer a concern. You came here seeking a rock."

"Yes," Ivory agreed and went to the small cave from which the spring spilt forth.

Within were several rock formations, likely formed by the abundant flow of essence. She knelt down in the cold spring water and slipped deeper into the small space.

Gently she ran her hand over the crystals, essence glittering gold at her fingertips. A faceted rod of clear quartz rock caught her attention. She touched it, ran her hand across it, then carefully scored the rock with her fingernail. After a minute of work she removed it, its essence affected structure unharmed.

She crawled back out of the cave and held it up to the sun. "I have it," she said, looking for flaws in the crystal matrix and finding none.

"Very nice," Elder Oak said, his tone making it clear he cared little for it. "What do you plan to do with it?"

"I am going to make it the heart of an automaton, one that will always do as I say."

"I suppose that will prove useful to you."

She nodded as she stood. "It will be marvellous." She knew that Elder Oak did not care, but she was still happy with what she had found.

"Let us leave this place then if you have found what you wanted."

"All right," Ivory said.

He led her from the demesne, back towards the town.

"Will Dark Eyes really try to kill you?"

"I believe that was his original plan when he came here before he discovered I had already left the tribes behind. He wanted to take command of the tribes. Was I still leading them my defeat would have allowed him to do so."

"Why does he want command of them? Are they a great army?"

"Hardly," the Forest Walker said derisively. "Even with a Lunar's aid, the mercenaries are easily able to keep the tribes from being a real problem."

"Then why?"

"I do not know, though I suppose it has something to do with his master."

"Master?"

"Demons visit him, and he passes on reports to them. He may think I do not know, but I am aware of any foul creature that enters my forest."

"Do you know who his master is?" Ivory asked.

"Suspect, from old stories, but I will not say."

"Why not?"

"If I am wrong, I have no desire to bring on the ire of that one, and if I am right, I do not want her to know I have seen through her agent."

"I suppose that makes sense," Ivory said, trying to sound reasonable, but she could not help being curious. Who was this 'her'?

"You do not plan to stay long. It does not concern you."

Ivory felt a little put off by such a statement, but he was right, she was not going to remain.

She might never come back.

No matter how desperately she wished to know, she would not argue the point.

Perhaps to put her off her earlier questions, or perhaps because it was what he cared about, Elder Oak told her about the forest as they passed through it. He knew every part of it well, could tell her about when a giant tree had first sprouted from seed, and point out small, hidden glades of remarkable flowers.

When they finally reached Far Hold it was getting late in the day.

They crossed through the orchards together, towards the walls of the town. Ivory looked up at the sky, looking for the floating pagoda. She spotted it, coming over the trees when they were a few hundred feet from the gate.

"Here is my home."

Elder Oak turned and looked towards the incoming pagoda. "Remarkable," he said.

Ivory stepped away from him, walked towards an open space where the pagoda would have enough room to land. There were people around, watching in amazement as the house drifted down to float a few feet off the ground. Ivory took a short run up and jumped to the front door.

Hu was waiting there, and Ivory had forgotten much of her earlier anger and smiled when she saw him. She held up her still injured wrist. "I fought a Lunar," she said.

"I am not at all surprised," Hu replied.

* * *

The sun was down the moon not quite up.

Dark Eyes stood alone, but not far from the village where the Red Scars lived. He could hear the sound of the people, his people, getting ready for the evening meal. The warriors were singing songs, the shamans burning incense.

He had watched Elder Oak and the exalted child, he was sure she was exalted, from afar, and he had seen her leave, taken away by a flying house.

Surely it was a world of wonders.

Sighing he reached into a small pouch at his side and brought out a small, silver crystal. It was many days before one of the demons would come, but he had a manner to summon a messenger if required.

The crystal turned to power under his strong fingers, and with a snap of those fingers he flung the dust into the air.

After several seconds something small and quiet entered the branches above his head. "You call oh mighty warrior." The voice was soft, with a hint of mockery.

"Go and run to your mistress dog, tell her that a sorcerous exalted has met with Elder Oak. I do not think she is Dragon Blood, and she is not a Lunar. I don't know what she is. All I know is that she is a child with golden eyes and that she left Far Hold in a flying house, travelling east."

"Is that all?" Snide tone.

"Go, and do not tarry or your mistress will know the reason why."

* * *

The demon was fast, but even so it did not reach the city of Mahalanka until early in the morning the next day. It moved through dark streets, patrolled by ape-men and the few times it was seen it spoke pass phrases that allowed it to continue further into the city.

Finally it reached the central library where the mistress of Mahalanka spent much of her time.

There were more guards there, such that the demon could not hide from them, but they knew it and let it past.

When it found the city's ruler, its summoner and mistress, it bowed low before the beautiful lunar who lounged on a couch, a great tome open upon her lap.

The demon crouched respectfully, waiting.

"What is it?" the woman asked, not looking up from the book.

"Dark Eyes sends a message, about a child sorcerous who travels in a flying house."

The woman looked up from the book, turned her gaze towards the small demon.

It trembled where it crouched.

"Tell me more."

The demon told her exactly what Dark Eyes had said.

When it finished, she tossed a silver crystal to the demon. "Return to Dark Eyes, give him the crystal and tell him that if he learns anything new about this golden eyed child he is to send news immediately."

The demon had caught the crystal and nearly fled from the room once she had finished speaking.

* * *

The woman stood from the couch. Her perfect, lithe body was covered in Moon Silver tattoos, and she was very nearly naked.

"Bring me incense, and blocks of Ash and Rowan," she called out loudly, knowing her servants were listening.

It was time to use a favour, for the story of the child sorceress interested her for many reasons.

Few of them bode well for the target of her curiosity.


	5. Fires in the Forest

**Fires in the Forest**

Several hundred feet above the forest canopy the floating pagoda sped at a leisurely forty miles an hour. In the large, front room Darken Gray neatly drew elaborate diagrams on a chalkboard as she explained the social structure of the Varangia City States.

Ivory sat at a small table, an open notebook in front of her, its pages covered in neat writing.

Darken Gray reached for an eraser and was about to start cleaning the slate board when the entire pagoda shook, tilting so sharply that the chalk slid from the board's tray, and they heard crashes throughout the house as other things likely fell from shelves.

The cause of the disturbance became evident when a serpent's head appeared in the window.

Skin like bark, the size of a cow, eyes like bright, green leaves, it looked in at them through the window.

"What do you think it wants?" Ivory asked as she looked back at it.

"It's not quite a dragon," Darken Gray told Ivory, "but it is a powerful spirit. Take care."

The almost a dragon drew its head back, then snaked it forward.

Darken Gray was in front of Ivory before the almost dragon thrust its head forward, shattering the glass. Her hand moved about her, knocking the glass aside.

"I am Darken Gray, god of punishment, vassal of the Lady Hikari Ex and you will not harm this child."

"You will not tell me what I will do little god," the not dragon said.

"Little god?" Darken Gray's voice was so soft only Ivory heard it.

"I am O, the Flying Wood, and you will follow me to my kingdom where I may decide how to handle your trespass."

"Then O the Flying Wood, consider carefully before you continue this. Are you ready for an audit from Heaven? Are you willing to deal with the displeasure the goddess of Children?"

The almost dragon growled, a deep rumbling sound, like trees scraping against each other, but that was O's only response.

Ivory stepped out from behind Darken Gray, the danger of flying glass over. Hu had entered the room and was answering the almost dragon's growl with one of his own.

"Be aware," Ivory said.

O interrupted. "Silence child. I am not interested in hearing the wailing of mortal babes."

A part of Ivory saw the bluster for what it was. Darken Gray had worried O, and now it snapped out at Ivory in response.

She supposed she understood that.

But that was only a small part of Ivory.

A much larger part decided she was tired of being talked down to in such a way.

It had become tiresome.

She heard Darken Gray yell out her name, telling to stop.

Ivory cast a spell.

She saw the look of what she took for surprise appear on the almost dragon's face.

Then she had leapt forward, her now not inconsiderable weight slamming against its head. She drove a bronze fist into its eye.

It screamed and thrashed, but she held tight as it pulled away from the pagoda.

She cast a second spell. Where the first had turned her skin to bronze, the second gave her long claws. With those claws, she raked the side of its head.

* * *

Cursing Darken Gray made to run to the window, to pull Ivory free of the almost dragon, or to leap out and fight with her. She was not sure which.

Then the dragon thrashed and pulled away. The pagoda pitched to the side, and she lost her footing for a moment.

A blur of golden orange and black as Hu ran past her, sure footed even on the canted floor. The tiger leapt through the window, sailing through open space before landing upon O's back.

Then the pagoda dropped, for several seconds, before coming to a jerking halt.

Darken Gray took off at a run towards the pilot house. She would trust Hu to keep Ivory safe for the moment.

She would see to saving their home and means of transport.

And then she would have a long talk with Ivory.

Teeth, like petrified wood, bit down on Ivory, but while they deeply scored her bronze skin, they did not break it.

She responded by driving her claws into O's throat, tearing away wood. Her caste mark was blazing on her forehead, motes of golden light gathering around her.

"What? What are you doing?" O demanded.

Ivory thought that she heard a hint of fear, of uncertainty in that voice.

Which was good.

It was what Ivory wanted.

"Ivory," Hu called, and she felt his teeth close on the collar of the jacket she had been wearing, and he pulled her away from O's head, onto the almost dragon's back. "Hold tight."

O twisted and turned, trying to shake the two from its back, but Hu was clever footed and never lost his perch.

Ivory drove her claws deep through the wood flesh, and as her anima shone brightly, she drank deeply of O's very essence.

"No," O screamed. "Stop, what are you doing."

As the elemental's life spirit flowed into her Ivory used that power to shape another spell. Flaring out her golden essence jetted above her, becoming a barbed chain that then dropped, spinning at more than three hundred miles an hour, to wrap around O's long neck. There is spun around, the barbs cutting deeply into hardwood flesh, sawing deep through the neck.

O screamed as the wood was sliced away, and sap like blood spilt from the wound and from O's mouth.

The chain faded away, the spell over.

"How dare you," O choked out, and its body writhed and twisted, growing as vines rose up to try to wrap around Ivory and Hu. "Your blood and flesh shall feed me."

Hu adroitly avoided them, but one wrapped around Ivory's ankle and yanked her within the wooden body of O. There more vines wrapped around her and the wooden flesh began to press in on her, attempting to crush her.

Ivory trusted her bronze skin to protect her for a moment and formed another spell as her anima became iconic, vast circles of old realm writing surrounding and turning about her.

Around O's body flashed red and grey bands of essence that immediately sank into the wood of the not dragon's form.

O screamed again as within its bones of wood formed a core of molten iron which began to burn its way out. Ivory herself, surrounded by O's body, felt the molten iron pour over her, but between her anima and bronze skin, she was not harmed.

Sinking her claws into the wood that had started burning, she pulled herself out of the almost dragon's body.

It was falling, twisting through the air, screaming in mindless pain.

Hu dashed in, paws placed carefully, avoiding the burning wood and molten metal, snatched Ivory up by her clothing, and leapt from the plummeting elemental. O crashed into the woods, a tumbling, out of control mass of wood that destroyed trees as it came down. The tiger, on the other hand, landed smoothly on branches, leaping from one to another, slowing down rapidly but safely.

He dropped down close to the twisted form of the almost dragon, among the cleaning its fall had torn. For a moment Ivory thought that the fight was over, but then O shuddered up to its feet. "I am O the Flying Wood," it snarled, taking a step forward. "I will be named a Lesser Dragon soon and will grow in power to become a greater dragon. I will not let a Solar Exalted stop me."

O slammed a massive claw into the ground. Just in front of where the talons had hit the earth humped up, twice as tall as a man, twisted with jagged roots and whipping vines. Like a wave, the mound rolled across the ground towards Ivory.

Ivory ran to the side, but the wave of roots altered its course, following her.

Hu leapt atop the mound, shredding it, maintaining his perch and footing even as he tore it apart.

Ivory spun to face it, watching as it bore down on her.

It hit her, hard, slamming her back, hard enough that she shattered the trunk of a small tree. Rolling across the ground, bronze skin and her anima protecting her somewhat, she came to a stop in a small ravine.

Nearby she could hear the roar of O, and above her the trees twisted, the call of the wood elemental quickening them.

Hu stepped from the shadow, grabbed her up in his jaws, and dragged her into another shadow. The next shadow he stepped out of was on a thick branch of one of the trees, above and behind O.

Ivory raised a hand, and her golden essence gathered above her, taking on the shape of a bird of prey made of diamond and flame.

She made a sweeping gesture with her hand, and the raptor sped towards O. It loosed the shrill victory cry of a Garda bird, then plunged straight into the body of O.

Wooden bones and flesh turned to ash where the bird hit.

O howled in pain and was sent rolling across the ground as Ivory had only a short time before.

The bird, still deep within O's form, exploded in a blast of fire. O cried out even louder as the explosion set it burning. It rolled and thrashed among the trees and underbrush, setting more to flame.

Ivory jumped down from limb she was on, dropping to a lower one, and then another, making her way rapidly to the ground as the branches bent under her weight.

O lay on the burnt forest floor, seeming almost to pant in pain. The fires that had burnt within it looked as if they had been smothered; however Ivory could see the deep scars the spell had left.

"You are a monster," O said in a voice rich with pain.

The almost dragon tried to get up.

Ivory stepped close, slashing it with her claws.

O screamed again, but likely more from the essence that Ivory drew from it than the pain of the wound itself.

"No more," it cried, and then disappeared from sight, slipping into the spirit world.

Ivory did not stop her attack.

She could see into the spirit world.

She could strike the spirits within.

And she could still devour their essence.

It looked like Ivory was merely striking empty air, but her claws drew out wood aspected essence from the spirit world, and it looked like rents in nothing were bleeding green blood. And sometimes it seemed as if the empty air struck back, for something shredded her clothing, and deeply scored her bronze flesh, but that did not slow her.

She chased after the spirit, among the shattered burning wood, at one moment evading and at another attacking.

The green essence flowed into her anima, changing to gold and Ivory's attacks grew faster, more confident, every strike drawing out more and more elemental essence.

Finally, from within the spirit world, O cried out, "Mercy, Prince of the Earth. Mercy."

Ivory did not pause.

Her claw strikes fell heavily on the spirit, with each blow she breathed in deeply, absorbing the very life force of the elemental.

The fourth strike and the almost dragon was no more, just a spark of feeble essence, a spark that Ivory inhaled.

She stood among the still burning forest, staring into the spirit world where the last wisps of O dissipated away.

* * *

The elder Lunar Rakshi, called the Queen of Fangs, looked out over her city from where she stood on the balcony of one of the library's high towers. It was there that she felt O die. No mere defeat that an immortal spirit could come back from, eventually, but a true death.

A frown crossed her beautiful face, eyes narrowed as she stared off into the distance.

Had a child sorcerer ended the elemental? A spirit that had grown in power that it was near a lesser elemental dragon? She needed to know.

The child sorcerer had been curiosity at first, perhaps a perverse diversion. An exciting toy to play with, to corrupt, and to eventually be a meal.

However the child had gone from an object of curiosity and a possible toy to something more.

If she had killed O.

If she were a Solar.

The Solars had returned, Rakshi had heard. So far none had come so far east as to encroach on her city.

A Solar sorceress.

One who perhaps, even though a child, had mastered Solar Sorcery, the golden level of sorcery that had eluded Rakshi even though she had centuries and centuries of study and experience.

She wanted to go, right then, seek out the child.

But she would not leave her city.

Not now, with things so uncertain in the world.

She would have to send out agents.

That would take time.

She snarled and slammed six fingered hands against the stone balustrade.

It cracked under her blow.

Had some child Solar, recently exalted, mastered a level of Sorcery that Rakshi had chased almost all her life?

Surely she had not.

But Rakshi had to know.

Turning on her heel, she walked from the balcony, down the tower stairs.

* * *

Rakshi was not the only person to realise that O had died. She was not the only person to place importance on that death.

In heaven the shuttle of the Loom of Fate jumped for a moment, the weave becoming tangled, the thread of a spirit, once bright and vibrant, was ended, leaving uncertainty in the design.

Gods and Sidereals saw it.

Several left the room.

The ending of a spirit echoed in Oblivion, and the Neverborn were restless in their vast tombs.

In the Noss Fens Shoat of the Mire, only recently returned to Creation, knew of that death. Such a thing might not have interested her at all, for things died all the time, but a whisper touched her mind, uncertain, perhaps even unattended, and she wondered if Ivory had really been the one that had killed the spirit.

She, of course, must find out.

Missing Ivory in Malfeas had been heartbreaking.

If she was close, then Shoat of the Mire must find her.

She stood in a stone corridor where moment before she had been skipping, bouncing a ball made of demon flesh (a gift from Donner Trods, horrible man that he was). She held the ball in her hands, turned in a slow circle.

Could Ivory be coming towards her?

No.

Not towards her.

But where?

And she knew.

The Pole of Wood.

Where else would a Solar go?

Which meant Ivory would be coming towards her, kind of, would at least pass close.

She very nearly danced in place with excitement.

Then she turned and ran, deeper into the tunnels.

She must prepare.

* * *

The Death of O made some angry, others curious, some frightened and some excited.

For Darken Gray the death of O brought only consternation.

She looked in on the Sleeping Ivory.

With the setting of the sun, the spell that had turned her flesh to bronze had faded, and she lay on her bed, bandaged where the claws of O had wounded her. The injuries were surprisingly light for someone who had fought such a powerful spirit.

Stepping back she softly closed the door of Ivory's bedroom.

The Floating Pagoda was drifting a few hundred feet over the woods, Ivory having repaired most the damage O had done. Darken Gray crossed to the new window in the classroom and looked down at the trees.

The fires had mostly burnt themselves out, but here and there she could see small patches of flickering light.

Was there some spirit that needed to be apologised to?

Likely any such spirit would want nothing to do with Ivory or those around her.

"You can't just kill a spirit and expect nothing to happen," Darken Gray said softly.

An answering growl sounded nearby.

Hu sat, half in and half out of shadow, nearly invisible.

She looked at the tiger. "I can't punish her. As far as she is concerned, she has done nothing wrong."

Hu looked at her, his posture suggesting neither agreement or disagreement.

"I knew Solars could be passionate. I have seen it, but, she's still a child."

The tiger gave her a look that said more than words.

"Yes, I suppose I should have known better."

She turned away from the window. "I'll see if I can at least have her agree to apologise to O's superiors for the inconvenience that her death may have caused."

Perhaps that would at least make Ivory consider things a little more before she ended any more spirits.


	6. Little Girls and the Games they Play

**Little Girls and the Games they Play**

Travelling further east at the pagoda's cruising speed meant that they soon left behind most human habitation. Farther out were the Wyld tainted border marches, inhabited by Fair Folk, hobgoblins, Wyld mutants and things far stranger.

Darken Gray had told Ivory of the strange things in the East, of forests made entirely of cats and trees of fire. While such wondrous things sparked Ivory's imagination, she would not see them, not this trip.

To travel to the Elemental Pole of Wood required that Ivory concentrate on the most elementally pure parts of the landscape, to follow the path of truth, as it were, through madness, as Darken Gray had explained it. And it was Ivory who had to chart the course, for it was her journey.

She would sit in the pilot's house, seeking the path.

Sometimes she would have to stop the pagoda, leaving it hovering as she stared out at the forests, trying to decide which forest was the one that would lead her where she needed to go. She would have to observe, seek out what was real and was the imaginative artifice without understanding.

Once it was the realisation that the leaves in one forest were actually brilliant green butterflies. Another time it was that the small animals within the canopy were all actually clockworks.

Sometimes she had to backtrack, and for all the speed of the pagoda, she felt she was not making any more progress than if she had been walking.

Nor could she fly the pagoda all day and all night, for Darken Gray still had lessons to teach and insisted that Ivory sleep well.

It was about three days from when she had ended O when Ivory was confident she was on the true path. She wanted to push forward as fast as she might, but Darken Gray had suggested they put down. Below them was a clearing in a forest that was the most elementally pure they had seen in some hours.

'Stretch your legs while you can,' the god had told her. 'I think this will be safe enough, and Hu will be with you. Think about your project.'

Ivory's project was a letter that would be sent to heaven, to the superiors of O the Flying Wood.

Darken Gray called it an explanation, but Ivory knew it was really a letter of apology.

For denying someone a powerful subordinate.

The problem was that so far all she could think of to write was, 'I am sorry your servant was so stupid that they had to be ended.' And that was the thing. Ivory knew for certain that she had been right and O had deserved its fate.

It was annoying to have to try to come up with a polite way to explain that.

She paused on the edge of the clearing, knelt down to look at some flowers that grew just in the shade.

"What would you like to hear if someone killed one of your servants?" Ivory asked Hu as she gently brushed her fingers across the dark petals of what she thought might be an orchid.

Hu did not answer immediately, and Ivory continued to watch the flowers, waiting.

"An apology would be appreciated."

Ivory took a deep breath and then said, keeping her tone even, "I am not going to apologise. I'm not sorry."

"Then at least a promise that it would not happen again, but seeing as it can not happen again, that might be taken as something of an insult."

Ivory fought off a smile. She knew Hu was serious, but it still seemed a little funny.

"At the very least an expression of apology to me for the inconvenience it had caused. Perhaps an offer to provide aid until I found a suitable replacement."

Ivory nodded, then stood and turned to face Hu, putting her hands behind her back. She was wearing a pair of knee high, laced up leather boots, a long, dark red skirt, white blouse with a leather vest. Her long cloak trailed out behind her, and her swords were worn openly on her belt. "Would you make me hide under beds and scare little children?" She smiled.

Hu stood and walked towards her, twining around her with his large body for a moment. "I don't think you could scare an infant. I would probably give you paperwork to handle." He slid past her and slipped into the forest.

"I could be plenty scary," Ivory said as she stepped over the orchids and followed Hu among the trees.

Under the canopy were the soft sounds of birds call, the nearly inaudible buzz of insects. Nothing came close, likely Hu's presence was responsible.

She stepped over a root, tripped and almost fell to the ground, only keeping herself up by grabbing a branch.

Close by Ivory heard someone laugh.

Hu, a few steps ahead of her, swung about towards the sound, shifting so that he was between Ivory and it.

"Hello," someone called.

Ivory looked up.

In the branches of a tree was a young girl, dressed in a white shift. Her short blonde hair seemed to shine under the forest canopy.

"Who are you?" Ivory asked.

The girl smiled. "I am called Shoat of the Mire. You are Ivory Peleps. I have wanted to meet you."

"How do you know who I am? Why would you want to meet me?" Ivory asked putting a hand close to her sword.

Shoat of the Mire smiled, and then pushed herself from the branch, dropping twenty feet to the ground. She landed in a crouch, then straightened and bowed.

Hu was still between Ivory the girl, watching the newcomer.

"I think we could be good friends," Shoat of the Mire told Ivory.

Ivory looked at the other girl for several seconds, then asked, "Why?"

Shoat of the Mire winked, then turned and ran off between the trees. "Come with me," she called back over her shoulder.

Ivory looked at Hu, then after several seconds, she ran off into the woods, following the girl. It was easy to trail Shoat of the Mire, for her blonde hair, white shift and pale skin were like a beacon under the canopy. Hu paced Ivory, keeping watch.

Shoat of the Mire was fast, agile, she moved quickly, leaping over roots and squirming through the underbrush. Ivory was not quite so quick, and she fell behind the other girl. Hu dashed ahead every now and then before letting Ivory catch up to him.

Everyone was faster than her.

She saw the Shoat of the Mire stop, ahead of her the forest growing brighter. Ivory slowed down, walking among the roots. It looked as if Shoat of the Mire was standing on the edge of another clearing.

Moving closer Ivory realised it was actually the side of a cliff that she stood at. Ivory stepped close to the edge, not wanting the other girl to think she was afraid. The drop was easily hundreds of feet. It was a valley that split the forest, Ivory could see it stretching off in either direction.

"Look," Shoat said, pointing down into the valley.

Ivory leaned out, to make sure there could be no doubt of her bravery and looked where Shoat was pointing.

A river ran along the floor of the valley, and below them, it spread out to become a large pool. Around it Ivory could see people swimming in the water, climbing up on the rocks.

She was positive none of them were wearing clothing and was pretty sure they were green.

"I think they're Dryads," Shoat said.

"Probably," Ivory agreed, though in truth she did not know.

"There is this dryad close to where I live, not too close of course." She looked at Ivory.

"Of course," Ivory said.

"She is like an old dying swamp tree. It's cause of the Noss Fens."

Ivory nodded, wondering where the Noss Fens were.

"Old hag, near dying, mean. I hate her, but I can't do anything 'bout it." She looked down at the figures, swimming in the valley pool. "Wanna go and kill them?"

Ivory did not answer immediately, considering the many things she might say, then discarding them. Finally, she settled on, "No, not really."

Shoat nodded. "Yeah, I guess I don't want to either."

Ivory thought she might be lying.

"But I'm glad you killed that other one. That powerful elemental."

"You know about that?"

Shoat of the Mire nodded. "Course I do. When you killed it, I heard about it, from the ghosts."

Ivory took a careful step back, hand once more moving towards the hilt of her sword.

Shoat of the Mire watched her, smiled. "Not going to hurt you. We should be friends. Best friends I think. Listen, when you are with kids, do you think that one day they'll be adults and you'll still be a girl?"

The question surprised Ivory.

"Cause I know that is what I think… Well, most of them, the other girls, have already died, but I think, if they hadn't died, they could grow up, and I won't, cause I'm kind of dead. And you won't cause the poison that killed the possibility that you'd grow up."

"How do you know about that?" Ivory asked.

"The dead gossip and the Neverborn Whisper and the demons talk. If you put it all together, it is pretty obvious."

Ivory was surprised that the secret she thought only she, and Hu and Darengest, and the Ebon Dragon... He thought trailed off. Really, it seemed a lot of people and beings had known.

The girl stepped away from the edge of the valley and stood straight. "I'm an Abyssal Exalted, made by the Dowager of the Irreverent Vulgate in Unrent Veils. We are meant to be enemies. But I still want to be friends."

"Cause neither of us will grow up."

"Yeah, and cause I hate the Dowager."

"You hate the Dowager?"

Shoat of the Mire nodded. "If you met her you'd hate her too, but not for long, cause she'd kill you real fast."

Ivory shook her head. "I fought the Mask of Winters."

"The Mask of Winters was weak and stupid, and probably ugly, but I don't know that for sure. The Dowager is a lot worse. She'd kill you, and that would make me sad."

Ivory was not entirely certain how to argue that point. "Why does hating her make you want to be friends?"

"She made me. She made my mother, and my grand mother and maybe more grand mother's beyond. If I hate her, it's cause she wants me to hate her."

Ivory considered that for several seconds and then said, "Okay."

"So I want to hurt her. But she knows that, cause that is what she wants me to think. So whatever I do she probably wanted me to do that. And if I do nothing cause I don't wanna play her game, she would want me to do nothing… maybe."

"I see," Ivory said, understanding Shoat of the Mire's thoughts.

"But, I don't think she'd s'pect me to make friends with someone who's very much like me, but completely different. I mean, it's not like you are something she could predict."

For a moment Ivory thought to argue that point but knew that she would be doing so to be contrary.

"So I think we'll be good friends," the other girl said to Ivory.

Ivory looked at the other girl, into her dark eyes.

She had an idea of what kind of life the Shoat of the Mire might have lived.

"Maybe."

"Yes."

"Maybe."

"Don't be stupid. We're gonna be friends until the end of time."

"I'm not stupid. And maybe."

Shoat hit her gently in the shoulder. "Best friends. I'm sure of it." Then she shifted closer and kissed Ivory on the cheek. Her lips felt cold. Then she said, "We're gonna be little girls until we are ended, me in the dark and you in the light and we are going to need each other." She dropped down to sit on the edge of the valley, perched on a root.

"We are?"

"Of course we are? And I'm gonna probably have sisters and brothers, but I hope just sisters cause boys are gross, don't you think?"

Ivory nodded after a moment. "Yeah, mostly." She took a seat beside Shoat of the Mire.

"And think how much worse they'll be if they are Abyssals cause a lot of them as adults are really gross too."

Hu sat and yawned, Ivory suspect that he had passed judgement on the immediacy of danger Shoat represented. Or he was putting on an act to trick Shoat of the Mire.

"Some of the women are gross too. Dowager tells me about some of them. All peeling skin, or bones, and weeping soars and vermin." She shook her head. "I'm just happy to be a cute girl."

She was all over the place, but Ivory asked, "Why are we gonna need each other?"

"Too much Darkness or Light can't be good for us. That's what I think. So I can keep you grounded and remind you that everything ends and you can remind me that not everything is terrible and the being in the sun sometimes is okay. You agree right?"

"No," Ivory said, shaking her head.

"No?"

"Why would I want to be reminded that everything ends?"

Shoat of the Mire canted her head to the side, looking at Ivory. "Cause you don't want to forget. I get the idea the Solars of old forgot."

That surprised Ivory.

"I'm gonna be around until it all ends. I decided that. But I want a friend. I want a friend who can understand."

"But, we're going to be enemies."

"So? Why can't enemies be friends?"

Ivory opened her mouth to answer, then closed it. She looked over at Hu.

No help there.

"Okay, maybe enemies can be friends."

Shoat of the Mire smiled happily, and so fast as Ivory could do nothing to stop it, she had grabbed Ivory's small hand in her own two small hands, clasping it. She brought Ivory's hand up and placed Ivory's fingers against her cold cheek.

"Your hand is warm," Shoat of the Mire said.

Shoat's grip was gentle, and her fingers soft in some places, calloused in others and her hair was so very blonde. She sat there, eyes closed, holding Ivory's hand to her cheek, smiling.

It occurred to Ivory that a beautiful blonde girl like Shoat of the Mire, who could hold her hand like that and smile so prettily might indeed be a girl she would like to have as a friend. If she were not an Abyssal.

But why should she not be friends with an Abyssal?

The Shoat of Mire opened her eyes and let go of Ivory's hand.

"Do you like my shift?" she asked.

The non-sequitur took Ivory by surprise, and she only nodded.

"Everything the Dowager gives me, except for weapons and armour, is old and faded. But I got this from that cat demon on the Street of the Hopeful Slave, the same demon that made a dress for you. She said it was red and beautiful and I wanted one just like it, but she would not make one for me."

Ivory could have said a lot of things, but what she said was, "She was pretty opinionated for a demon seamstress."

"I know," Shoat of the Mire said with a nod. "She made me some lovely dresses, and this shift which she said was just like the one she made for you to wear under your dress."

"Oh." Ivory nodded. "It's nice."

Shoat of the Mire smiled again.

She smiled readily.

"What were you doing in Malfeas?" Ivory asked her.

"Deliverin' Soulsteel to Alveua."

"Alveua? Why did she need Soul Steel?"

"Said she was going to make plasma tongue 'peaters."

Ivory considered that. "Do you know why."

"It's a secret," Shoat said in a sing song voice.

Ivory frowned. "That's not fair."

"Are you gonna tell me what you are doing, heading into the East?"

Ivory nodded after a moment. "Okay, that is fair."

"I'll tell you this though. Kotomaro the Hidden Lightning has taken bribes from the Dowager."

"What? Who is that."

Shoat of the Mire did not answer and instead got to her feet and looked down into the valley. "I have to be getting back now."

Ivory stood, watching Shoat of the Mire for a few seconds.

Shoat looked at Ivory. "Maybe we'll end up fighting one another."

"Yeah."

"If that happens try your best to kill me, cause I'll have to try my best to kill you."

Ivory frowned.

"You see, if we're both trying our best to kill the other we are more likely to survive, don't you think?"

"No."

"Then you're stupid. Ask your tiger. Your tiger knows."

Ivory looked at Hu, then back at Shoat.

Shoat was not looking at her, she was walking away, on the edge of the valley.

"Well, goodbye."

"Not goodbye," Shoat of the Mire said, not looking back, "see you later."

"See you later," Ivory said, then turned and walked away.

She looked over her shoulder several times, but Shoat was soon lost among the trees and underbrush.

When she stepped out from under the leaves, she stopped and looked at Hu. "What happened?"

Hu took a few steps from her, then sat and looked at her. "You made a very dangerous friend."

Ivory thought about it and then nodded. "Shoat made a very dangerous friend too."

"Remember what she said."

"She said a lot."

Hu did not look pleased by the answer. "If fate puts you in conflict, fight as hard as you can, and remember, the Death Lords we don't know are likely more dangerous than the ones we do."

"I wasn't planning on forgetting that."

Hu stood and started towards the far off pagoda.

Ivory looked back to the forest for a moment and then turned and ran after Hu.

* * *

Darken Gray sometimes wondered at Ivory's lack of thought.

Had she not considered that a goddess, like herself, strongly associated with children, would be aware of another child coming anywhere near an area where there should be no children?

Darken Gray supposed it was part of Ivory's education that she would have to see to.

But not immediately.

She had listened in on the two girls. As a rule, Darken Gray respected her charges' privacy, up to a point. She was not the sort to wish an action, once undertaken, had not been undertaken. What she had learned did make things difficult.

Certainly, the actions of this Dowager would have to be looked into, especially if she was making children champions of the underworld. But what concerned her most was what she had learned of Ivory.

She knew of Darengest of course, had heard tales of the demon that killed the ability of things to mature. If there were a history of her doing so to a human child, it was from before the first age.

Ivory would never grow up.

It was of course terrible.

The adult that she had envisioned her charge becoming was a fiction, a dream.

She wondered what her Lady would make of that news.

What would Ivory's mother make of it?

Darken Gray did not know who she was most worried about telling.

She leaned on the frame of the front door of the pagoda, watching Ivory and Hu making their way across the cleaning.

Of course, the damn tiger knew.

Did Five Days in Darkness?

It was not something that would remain secret.

A few years at most.

She had to get out in front of it, somehow.

She watched as Ivory tried to tackle Hu, her small form hardly up to the task, the sound of her laughter as she hung from the tiger's thick neck.

Would she be able to laugh like that as the years passed?

Darken Gray wondered how long she would need to stay with Ivory. The usual measurements did not apply to an eternal child.

After a time of watching Ivory play she raised her voice, called out, "Ivory, it is time for us to leave."

* * *

Ivory did not tell Darken Gray about Shoat of the Mire. She thought it best to keep that a secret, for a time.

But Shoat had reminded her of something.

That evening she worked the quartz crystal that she had taken from the forest demesne not long before. Her hands glowed with essence as she shaped the rock, opening up space in the centre and then carving octagonal control rods that could slide in and out of that hollow.

She carried it out into the covered garden. It was dark, a little cool. In the middle of the enclosed space Ivory had built a small furnace. She heard the sound of a footstep. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Darken Gray had come from the house.

"It's late Ivory."

"I'm almost finished," Ivory told her as she touched the furnace, causing the flame within to grow.

Darken Gray knelt down, smoothing her skirt. "What are you doing?"

Ivory held up the heart. "I am going to infuse this with the noble metals."

Darken Gray did not ask why she only nodded.

From the vaults of Lookshy Ivory had collected pieces of broken metal. Jade, Orichalcum, Moon Silver, even a bit of Starmetal. When the furnace grew hot, she tossed in a few chips of jade. They vaporised in the heat, the vapours rising up to where she had set the heart and flowing within the crystal matrix.

When the furnace grew hotter still she put in a few flakes of Moon Silver. Again the metal became vapour and infused the crystal. The Starmetal followed and then when the furnace was as hot at it could get, near failing, she flicked in a small piece of golden Orichalcum.

The metal went liquid, and for a few second Ivory thought she could not change its state further. A bubble rose up in the pooled metal, followed by more, and then it boiled away, becoming part of the crystal.

Ivory touched the furnace, burning her finger, as she shut it down.

Placing the burnt finger in her mouth, she waited for the furnace to cool a little. The metal casing of the furnace cracked as it cooled.

After a few minutes, she reached out and picked up the heart which was now much more than crystal. She touched it, and the control rods all slid smoothly out, studding the surface. Stroking it gently caused them to slip back into their housings.

Impressive work," Darken Gray said.

"Thank you," Ivory replied, staring at the heart.

"What will you do with?"

Ivory smiled. "Build my own mechanical servant, like Yotei's Mesha, but better."

"Write a paper on it tomorrow," Darken Gray told her, turning to go back into the house. "And make sure you go to bed once you have finished cleaning this up."

Ivory nodded as she put the heart into her jacket pocket.


	7. The Queen of the Elemental Pole

**The Queen of the Elemental Pole**

The floating pagoda flew them farther east, following a twisting path of endless forests, seeking out the ways that were true to Creation. They had penetrated deep enough that Ivory had to activate the Reality Engine to protect the pagoda from the energies that permeated the area.

The engine drew power from the generator and slowed their progress somewhat.

Ivory did not recognise the point at which she flew the Pagoda into the area of the Elemental Pole. It was just she realised that all around were trunks of huge trees, with a vast canopy of green above them and no sign of the ground beneath.

It was trees all the way down and all the way up.

She brought the pagoda to a stop and then ran down from the pilothouse, into the covered garden. Looking out around her she saw a world of growth and plants.

The light was green, filtered through the canopy, and all around tree trunks, and branches, and various other plants growing on them. Close by a huge serpent of woven vines slithered among the branches and turned black eyes onto the pagoda. Stretching out from the branches, its head swung towards the Pagoda but stopped some distance away.

Ivory thought it had detected the edge of the Reality's Engine's field.

Curious as to what might happen if it crossed into the protected area she watched. However, the serpent seemed to think better of approaching closer, for it pulled away, back into the trees, and slithered away.

The Elemental Pole was, she thought, very quiet. The soft whisper of leaves was all she heard.

Watching, she saw more creatures moving among the trees and branches. Flocks of birds, made from wood and leaves flew beneath the canopy and around the trunks, and she saw monkeys of woven branches some distance away, swinging among the vines.

It entranced her, and she watched for almost an hour before the darkening around her told her that the day was almost over.

Wanting to take advantage of the light while it was still there Ivory returned to the pilothouse and directed the pagoda forward again.

* * *

There were dangers within the Elemental Pole, but the Reality Engine protected the pagoda and its inhabitants from the majority of them. Some of the creatures of woven wood and plants even came apart when they entered the area encompassed by the field, unable to exist under the rules of Creation.

Ivory, Darken Gray and Hu travelled safely, comfortably, closing on the centre of the Pole of Wood.

At times they passed what appeared to be cities in the trees. Those places were populated by elementals or strange beings made of wood and other plant materials.

"Why do they have cities?" she asked Darken Gray.

"Some elementals see things in Creation that they wish to recreate, and in the past powerful Exalts have come here and created sanctuaries in a manner they found comfortable. And some, perhaps they are just an echo of something from Creation."

"An echo?"

"The poles are part of Creation. What happens in one can affect the other."

"What would I have to do in Creation to see it echoed here?"

"I am afraid I honestly do not know Ivory. It is something that I have heard the Solars of the First Age experimented with. Those who understand the nature of that research and the results, indeed if any still exist, do not talk about it."

"Well, that doesn't help."

Darken Gray only smiled at Ivory's tone and seemed uninterested in explaining it further.

As she flew close to one of the cities, curious if she could find signs of the 'echo', Ivory looked inwards to some of what Ligier had shown her. She stopped when she started getting a headache having found nothing that explained echoes, even assuming they were an actual thing.

Along the way, they saw elementals beings of all types. One kind that stuck in Ivory's mind was a group of green-skinned maidens, leaping from branch to branch, following them for a time. They shouted out in sweet voices, calling for Ivory to come and play with them.

"May I?" Ivory asked.

"No," Darken Gray told her, looking across at the nude forms. "They do not seem wholesome."

Once the pagoda flew by a giant, three hundred feet tall at least, shaped like a woman. Ivory had mistaken it for a tree, for they had seen many trees that grew upon the infinite trunks. Only as she flew by it and it turned its head, watching the pagoda as it passed by did Ivory recognise it for what it was.

"Is she a behemoth?" Ivory asked Hu.

Hu had put his front paws up on the pilothouse window and was looking out at the giant. "If she is she seems small, compared to the Juggernaut."

"That behemoth was too big, it was hard to see it as something more than just a feature of the land. She looks like a real giant."

The giant continued to watch them for a time, then its head turned, and its gaze left them.

"Maybe it is guarding something," Ivory thought, and for a moment considered going back. Then she shook her head and focused her gaze forward again.

Everything they saw was not so benign. Sometimes the Pagoda was actively attacked, though the Reality Engine stopped most attacks cold.

At one point a large group of men shaped creatures, made up of twisty vines, fired arrows at that pagoda. The simple wooden shafts were prosaic enough that they were not turned away by the field of the Reality Engine and actually presented some danger.

Darken Gray took up position on the roof of the pilothouse, returning fire.

Once her shots had shredded the several of the attackers, the strange creatures fled.

Of those things that were actively antagonistic none really concerned Ivory except for the flying ship that paced them for a time.

It looked a little like the Halsanti League airships that Sparrow had been building, and little like a huge dandelion seed.

It came close enough that Ivory could see its crew, They looked like men and women, though ones who had been almost completely overgrown by vegetation. Were they mortals? Were they even living? They could be some sort of vegetable zombie, given motion by the plants that grew in them.

Ivory did not like it.

"I am going to shoot it out of the air," Ivory said. "I'll hit it with the Brilliant Raptor."

"You will not," Darken Gray told her. "Not until they show themselves to be a threat."

"They will, you'll see," Ivory said.

However, it was not long after that that the strange ship suddenly lifted high above them, and sped away.

"I bet they heard me," Ivory said.

"Or we just left their territory."

Ivory made a rude sound.

A few times along their way Ivory did stop the pagoda and landed it on one of the tree branches or some other convenient spot. At those times she would collect something of interest. Valuable reagents, rare flowers, strange fungus, pollen, and even large chunks of amber.

It was about four days after they had entered the infinite and endless woods of the Pole when an elemental came seeking them.

They saw a pattern of flashing lights far ahead of them. It was not directly in front of them, but Ivory did not have to alter course very much to approach it.

She had a feeling that something was odd, almost as if someone had taken a cube of ice and ran it up her spine. It was only a moment, and she put it from her mind for what she was flying towards captured her attention.

She saw strung between the trees what looked like a vast spiderweb on which fluorescent flowers had been set. It was, in fact, just that, and its builder was a wood spider, but a much larger species than any that might be found in creation: its central body was nearly the size of a pony and its legs were about twenty feet long.

Ivory stopped the pagoda, bringing it to a hover.

She, Hu and Darken Gray watched it move among the trees and its web, its long legs anchoring before another leg sought out a point of purchase. It moved fast, a little like something out of a nightmare.

"You cannot trust wood spiders, they are liars and malicious," Darken Gray told her.

Ivory nodded. She already knew that wood spiders were dangerous with their well-crafted lies and their hatred, but she did not mind behind reminded, not with such a creature approaching them.

The spider reached them, passing through the field of the reality engine, shuddering slightly, but not coming apart.

It did not lay any part of its body upon the pagoda; instead anchoring itself to the trees around them.

"Welcome travellers, I have been sent to bring you welcome," it spoke with a voice like trees scraping in the wind.

Darken Gray opened one of the large windows of the pilothouse and then called out, "And who has sent you?"

"Kotomaro the Hidden Lightning rules here as the most enlightened of the elementals."

Ivory started on hearing that name, for Shoat of the Mire had told it to her recently.

Darken Gray leaned out the window, seemingly unconcerned she was putting her face close to the sharp fangs of splintered wood. "But did the Hidden Lightning send you?"

"Who else would?" The spider's tone seemed guileless.

"You tell me."

"What do you…"

"That was an order," Darken Gray said.

The huge spider appeared to grow uncomfortable. "Who are you to order me?"

Darken Gray looked back at Ivory. "Do you wish to destroy it?"

"Destroy me?" the spider sounded shocked.

Ivory thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. "No, but I do not want to speak to it anymore."

Darken Gray nodded then looked back at the spirit. "Go away."

Her voice held an edge that Ivory had only heard an echo of before.

The spider moved quickly, climbing up the trees, away from the pagoda, back towards its web.

Darken Gray closed the windows. "We should continue on."

Ivory nodded and returned to the controls. She checked her instruments and then pulled the throttle back. The Pagoda moved off at speed, sailing between the tree trunks.

The spider remained where it was, and did not try to hinder them.

Ivory looked back at where she had last seen the elemental, wondering if it was following. It had come to them, and now it was only watching as they flew away?

That seemed unlikely to Ivory.

And yet, as she travelled further into the trees she did not see any sign that the spider was following.

Darken Gray came up into the pilothouse, perhaps an hour later.

"I believe the wood spider was sent by Kotomaro," Darken Gray told Ivory.

Ivory was focusing on the path ahead, slipping between the trees, looking ahead for threats. "I thought it was lying."

"It was lying through the truth. Kotomaro sent it, but does not wish for anyone to know."

"Why?"

"Kotomaro the Hidden Lightning is currently under audit by Heaven and the Sidereals."

"For taking bribes?"

"Among other things. It seems she is hiding out here. Not surprising."

"I don't quite understand," Ivory admitted.

"If we had admitted to being a threat to Kotomaro I think that spider might have made an attempt to kill us. There is a level of deniability there. Wood Spiders are known to be liars, and it was vague as one would expect. Kotomaro wants to see those who come here unless they are specifically looking for her then she wants them to disappear."

Ivory nodded.

"That is supposition on my part of course, but it fits."

"So it is not following us because it does not think we are a threat?"

"It does not seem likely does it. A guard placed by Kotomaro should be more observant."

"So it might attack us yet?" Ivory suspected she knew the answer.

"We have to assume so. Wood Spiders are known for laying traps. Be observant for them."

Ivory nodded.

* * *

The day around them grew dark. Ivory wanted to fly through the night, trusting to the instruments where her eyes might fail. Darken Gray would not let her. "If that spider attacks us it will not live for long. We will eat and have our evening classes and then you will go to bed."

Darken Gray was adamant, as she usually was. Ivory did not bother arguing. It was true enough. If that spider were foolish enough to attack them directly, it would die.

They ate, and then Ivory had her lessons for the evening, calligraphy and dance. Then she went to her bed.

A few times she woke up, thinking she heard some sound, but the pole of wood was silent around her.

* * *

The next day passed the same as the last. No evidence of the spider, no sign of anything but the trees. The strange life she had seen before; animals of vegetation, giants, strange plant zombies, all of it was missing.

Her thought was that in the spider's hunting ground nothing else lived.

She shook that thought aside and looked at the instruments. Ivory wanted to be certain that she was continuing straight, not being led in circles. The compass and altimeter and inertial locator all indicated that she was making forward progress, and around her, with every mile travelled, the landscape was different, she saw nothing that led her to think she had been tricked back onto her own trail.

* * *

The third day since they had met the spider, at about the middle of the day, Ivory brought the pagoda to a halt. She walked down the stairs, left the pilot tower and for a time stood in the garden, looking out at the endless trees around her.

She recalled the feeling she had had when approaching the web three days prior. A feeling she had then discounted, attention instead fixed on the spider when it had appeared.

When no one came to ask her why she had stopped Ivory went into the house. She found Darken Gray, seated in the front room, reading a book.

"We are trapped," she announced.

"Oh?" Darken Gray looked up from the book. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

Ivory had expected a different reaction. She said, "It's all different."

"What is all different?"

"Everything. Not once have I felt I might have gone in a circle, gotten lost, seen something that seemed familiar."

"And why does that make you think we are trapped?"

"It's just trees. Trees and trees and more trees. They should look all the same to me, but they don't. There is something in this space, something that is trying to make me think that everything is fine, and I don't believe it."

"That sounds somewhat unbalanced."

"Do you mean crazy?"

"Yes."

"I'm not crazy. I've looked at it, looked at it carefully. The essence weaves are all wrong." She shook her head. "We are trapped."

"Yes, I suppose that is true."

"Did you know?"

Darken Gray smiled. "I have seen much more than you. Next time you will not be fooled for so long." She turned her attention back to the book.

"What are we going to do?"

"Not we, you."

"Oh," Ivory said after a moment. "But…"

"You are capable of handling this on your own, aren't you, like a big girl?"

Ivory did not say anything for several seconds, a little surprised by the question, the tone of it, what she knew that Darken Gray was insinuating. "Fine," she said, then turned and walked back towards the pilothouse.

She would need to think about it a little. She was certainly capable of handling it herself.

As she flew towards an illusion of the centre of the Pole, she considered what she knew of this place.

A closed space, possibly infinite. A paradox that did not concern Ivory for she had been in Malfeas. The prison was an enclosed infinite space. It was not that infinity which kept the Yozi trapped, but that they had sworn on their own names, their very natures, to remain trapped within Malfeas.

In the sights that Lieger had shown her were possibilities that the Yozis might break their prison. None of those plans were complete, which meant that the Green Sun had hidden things from her. That seeing through his eye had only shown her parts of hidden wholes did not surprise her. Nor did the lack of complete information impede her.

The Spider's trap was simpler than the Yozis' prison. It could only exist in the already unlikely space that was an elemental pole.

That was her answer.

The Reality Engine would allow her to shred the web she had been trapped in.

The trick would be to not destroy the engine in the process.

Ivory did not sleep that night. She worked on the Reality Engine, building out an amplifier, putting in as many redundant breakers as she could to ensure the device would be protected.

Darken Gray watched, handed Ivory the occasional tool when it was asked for.

"How long will you be able to power this for?" she asked.

Ivory, tongue poking out the side of her mouth, slowly twisted a length of Moon Silver wire around one of the grounding breakers, did not look away from her work. "Seconds, if that," she replied a moment later.

Flames of sunlight surrounded her from the essence she had spent.

"But I don't need that long," she continued as she reached for a wrench. "It will be just like popping a soap bubble. A little disturbance and it will collapse. I bet that spider is gonna be surprised." She smiled.

"After we escape I'll want a short essay on the theory behind this. Make it easy to understand."

"It's almost like you don't want me to escape," Ivory mumbled as she began to tune the amplifier.

* * *

Four days since they had met the spider and Ivory flew the pagoda onwards as she had all the days before.

What might have happened if neither she nor Darken Gray had realised the trap for what it was? Travelling the endless closed space until they grew so weak as to be easy prey for the spider probably.

Well, she was going to surprise that spider.

A few hours into the day Ivory activated the amplifier. The pagoda slowed and fell for the seconds the artefact worked, all the power directed to the Reality Engine.

Around her, the trees twisted in on themselves, as if reflections in a disturbed pool of water. The ever-present quiet became pure silence. Ivory felt a pressure building in her ears like she had dived deep under water.

Then the pressure was gone, like a pop, and the trees returned to normal. The noises she had become familiar with came back.

Looking out through the pilothouse windows she saw something falling through the air, twisting as it tried to right itself.

The spider, now that she had destroyed its web.

The Pagoda leapt forward, accelerating up to its top speed as Ivory closed on the spider.

A moment before collision she pulled the pagoda up, hitting the spider with the reinforced keel block.

There was the sound of breaking wood and a strange scream.

Ivory throttled back and stopped the pagoda.

Then she was running down the stairs, out of the tower, through the garden, into the house.

Near the door, set in an umbrella stand, rested her two Orichalcum swords.

She pushed the door open, grabbed the swords, then leapt from the house.

The spider, bounced hard off the pagoda's bottom, had crashed among the looping branches and vines of a tree.

Ivory dropped right on top of it, feet further cracking the wood of its damaged body as she hit.

It cried out in pain.

Ivory brought her swords around, cutting its two foremost legs off and then putting the points of her swords over each of its largest eyes. "I don't like your games."

"Mercy," it cried out.

"No," Ivory answered it.

"Please hold," a loud voice called out.

Sword points almost touching the spider's eyes Ivory looked up towards the sound.

Two figures, man-sized, spiralled down towards the Ivory and the Pagoda, maintaining a polite distance.

One looked like a man, and one like a woman, they were dark, like the inhabitants of the south-west, but their skin was, in fact, dark wood, like polished walnut. They had wings and were clothed in simple robes. As they got closer Ivory could see the clothing was really leaves, as were the feathers of their wings.

Each carried a round, wooden shield and had a sheathed blade.

"Why should I stop?" Ivory demanded.

The female shaped one spoke. "While it has done you harm, the Wood Spider is a favoured servant of Kotomaro. If you destroy it, then you earn her ill will."

Ivory held her blades in place. "And her servant trying to trap us is an example of her good will?"

"The spider has overstepped its bounds," the female shaped one told her. "Kotomaro will deal with it."

That did not necessarily mean anything. Ivory looked down at the spider, held motionless by the weapons held at its eyes.

"All right," Ivory said, then with a slash of the sword in her right hand she took one of the spider's fangs off.

The spider let out a pained cry as a toxic looking sap dripped from the wound.

"Go," she ordered the spider, stepping off and away from it.

It flipped onto its remaining six legs and jumped away, disappearing into the trees.

Ivory stepped back into the house and pulled the door closed.

Leaving her swords by the door, she crossed through the pagoda, out into the garden.

"Why don't you come down here and talk?" Ivory called out to the two newcomers.

"Of course," the female shaped one said, and descended with her companion towards the pagoda.

Ivory could see them shudder as they passed through the reality engine's field, but they appeared to take no harm. They did not land but hovered above them.

The female shaped one spoke again. "Let me properly welcome travellers from Creation to the Elemental Court of Wood in the name of its absent ruler Sextes Jylis." Her voice was high and soft. Up close Ivory could see she appeared very much a beautiful woman from Creation.

Her companion, while male shaped, was all sharp planes and angles, an abstract form of a large man. His voice was higher than his partner, softer as well, almost inaudible. "In Sextes Jylis' absence, we bring welcome from Kotomaro the Hidden Lightning and a request from Kotomaro that you attend her in her palace."

Darken Gray answered them first. "Why should we trust you more than the envoy from Kotomaro we have already met?"

The female spoke. "As I said, the spider is an," a slight pause, "overenthusiastic servant of the wisest Kotomaro. The spider chose to anticipate Kotomaro's desires and has acted without official sanction. It will no longer impede you and will be appropriately punished. Please do not take further insult and it is my hope you feel properly avenged upon it."

"Of course," Darken Gray said.

Ivory did not say anything.

"I am called Ashen Leaf," the female one announced.

The male one spoke again in its incongruous voice. "I am Dagger Thorn. We would ask your names."

Darken Gray took a step back so that Ivory stood at the fore.

For a few seconds, Ivory was not certain what to say. She took a deep breath and curtsied respectfully (though not as though to a superior or even an equal). "I am Ivory Peleps, Twilight of the Unconquered Sun."

"Of the Unconquered Sun?" Dagger Thorn said.

"A Solar? Do not play false to us child," Ashen Leaf warned.

Ivory straightened, uncertainty fled. Her caste mark lit up. "I am Ivory Peleps, Twilight of the Unconquered Sun. Do not question it again or learn as the spider did the cost of offering me insult."

The two elementals looked to one another, then back to Ivory. "Our apologies," Dagger Thorn said. "Long has it been since a Solar last came here. Beyond the memory of most who dwell here."

Ivory looked at them both, enjoying the postures of uncertainty she saw in them. She held her silence until she heard the soft intake of breath from Darken Gray. Before she might cough Ivory said, "I accept the apologies of the emissaries of Sextes Jylis."

Then, trying to make it seem as if there had not been an interruption in the introduction she said, "I travel with my teacher Darken Gray, goddess of Loving Correction in service to the Lady Aisha Ex, goddess of all Children in Creation."

"A pleasure to meet you," Darken Gray said.

Ivory did not look, but she was sure that Darken Gray had not bowed to the elementals.

"Also my companion Hu, the god of Things in Shadow."

Hu moved up and took a seat beside Ivory.

The male elemental's face, being so abstract gave nothing away, but the female was surprised.

Or maybe, Ivory told herself, just acting it.

"We are honoured to have such august guests travel so far. Were Sextes Jylis to know of your presence he would certainly have endeavoured to be here."

Ivory wondered if that was a veiled threat.

She decided to ignore it and said, "If you will alight, I would offer you welcome into our home and method of travel."

The two elementals landed upon the pagoda, and then pulled their wings in tight around their bodies so that they could enter the structure.

Ivory showed them to the lounge, a decent sized room on the first floor, furnished with comfortable chairs and small tables.

Ashen Leaf sat, and Dagger Thorn remained standing.

Both turned down offers of refreshments.

All of them in the room and the polite openings out of the way Ashen Leaf said, "Kotomaro has requested that all visitors be brought into her presence. Will you allow us to escort you to her palace?"

"If we do not wish to go?" Ivory asked.

"Kotomaro the Hidden Lightning would never make demands of a Solar," Ashen Leaf spoke immediately.

Probably true.

"I am willing to meet with her," Ivory said.

Ashen Leaf and Dagger Thorn looked towards each other for a moment, then Ashen Leaf said, "I am certain Kotomaro will be honoured to meet with you."

"Why does she wish to meet all visitors?" Ivory asked.

"Kotomaro rules all elementals and this Pole, as there is no one else as spiritually enlightened as she. She cares about the Pole and its inhabitants and wishes to see to their safety."

"We are fortunate to have such a Dragon watching over us," Dagger Thorn said.

Ivory looked between them. She was almost certain that there were hidden meanings in their words.

Heron would have known.

"Then I am sure I will be pleased to meet her," Ivory said, watching the two.

"I can only hope," Ashen Leaf said with a smile.

* * *

The two elementals left the pagoda soon after, flying ahead as an escort as Ivory followed after them.

She sat in the wheelhouse, Darken Gray behind her.

"I am not certain what to make of that," Ivory said.

"Consider what I told you of Kotomaro," Darken Gray told her, lecturing.

"She took bribes."

"Yes."

Ivory thought about that for a few seconds. "Is taking bribes uncommon."

"I wish I could say it was, but things do not function as well as they should."

"So," Ivory thought about for a moment, "it is not really that she took the bribes, but the size of them and who she took them from."

"True."

"She puts herself first."

"Yes."

Ivory did not say anything as she considered the implications. Finally, she said, "She's made enemies here, enemies who would like her gone. Enemies who might see a powerful Exalt as a way to do so."

"Very good. That seems quite likely."

Ivory was careful not to smile. She did not want Darken Gray thinking that she desired her praise, though it was nice.

"I won't be able to trust anyone, and Kotomaro won't be able to trust me."

"It is an awkward position to be in. When we leave, you can write an essay on what you learned about dealing with the spirt court here."

Ivory almost admired Darken Gray's focus.

* * *

After almost a day of travel, they arrived at the palace of Kotomaro.

The structure was suspended in the middle of a ring of alternating copper wood and flame trees. Branches from the trees grew into the centre, wove together, forming a vast wooden palace of highly polished wood that glowed almost as if it were buffed stone.

As the pagoda drifted closer branches rolled out from the structure, twining about each other, forming an extension at which the pagoda could dock.

Ivory sat in the pilot's house, pushing the throttle forward, the speed dropping off until the pagoda came to a full stop, the front door lined up with the dock that had been extended to them. She locked down the controls and then left the pilothouse, returning to the central structure.

Darken Gray was waiting for her, to help her dress.

"We should not keep Kotomaro waiting too long," she explained, holding up a pale, pink dress with full skirts, "but a little waiting will be useful. It sets the tone."

Ivory began to undress, nodding at what Darken Gray said. "I understand."

Darken Gray was efficient, and soon she had Ivory dressed, finishing it off by wrapping a wide, obi-like sash around Ivory's stomach and trying it into a large bow. She combed out Ivory's red hair, bangs even with her eyebrows and the golden hairband put in place. She finished off preparing Ivory with a tiny bit of makeup.

She stepped back and look at Ivory for a long moment, then nodded. "Bring your swords, let them know you don't consider them allies."

Ivory went and got her swords, the paired short daiklaives in their ornate sheaths.

Darken Gray, as always, wore her suit with her heels, impeccably dressed, and Hu looked as if he had been brushed, his fur almost shining.

Ivory took the lead, stepping from the pagoda, Darken Gray and Hu behind her.

Standing on either side of the extension were what Ivory could only assume were soldiers. They were squat, and broad, every part of the elementals unfinished wood, yet all fitting perfectly together in an organic manner.

As Ivory stepped beyond the reality engine's protective shield, she called upon a charm that would protect her from the elemental energies all around. She walked along the extension, between the soldiers, protected by the laws of Creation which centred on her like a corridor.

When none of the soldiers attacked, she relaxed enough to look about.

The palace was a grand affair, nothing that could have been built in Creation she was certain. The ways that the wood grew together, each and every branch still separate, and yet growing so close and perfectly together they formed flat planes and perfect angles, like the work of the finest carpenters.

Tall towers rose up around the central structure, a domed keep, easily three hundred feet tall.

She wondered at Kotomaro, as to why her palace, while fantastic in its construction, seemed so much like something that one could find in Creation.

They passed between two watchtowers and came to a set of stairs that climbed up and curved along the side of the central keep.

The wooden soldiers had fallen in behind Ivory, Hu and Darken Gray, following in their wake.

Ivory paused at the bottom of the stairs, looking up them, and at the height of each stair.

With her knee-length dress, she would not have to worry about lifting the hem as she climbed, but the step height would be a problem. Stepping up each stair would not be an elegant affair for her.

She looked to Darken Gray, who apparently had recognised the issue as well. Her gaze shifted from Ivory to Hu.

Ivory frowned as she looked at Hu.

She had ridden on Hu's back before when desperation called for it, but doing so out of vanity seemed wrong.

However Hu was obviously aware of the issue as well for he growled softly, "It is all right."

So Ivory went to Hu, and Hu lowered himself so that Ivory could take a seat on his broad shoulders, sitting side saddle as it were.

That settled they started up the stairs.

Hu took the stairs smoothly, almost as if he flowed up them, and Ivory maintained her position with ease. Darken Gray's legs were long enough, and the heels gave her extra height, so she was not hindered at all in her climb.

Looking behind her Ivory saw the soldiers were following. Short as they were it looked like they were waddling up the stairs. Ivory suspected were she climbing them herself she might have been forced into a similar gait.

She did note that the march of the wooden soldiers, while not elegant, was surprisingly rapid and they did not fall behind.

The stairs circled up, almost making a complete circuit of the keep's circumference before they ended at a large platform and a set of grand doors.

Guards stood by the doors, tall and mighty, nearly twice the height of the tallest man Ivory had ever seen in Creation.

With those guards were Ashen Leaf and Dagger Thorn.

The two elementals bowed to Ivory and the others as Ivory slipped down from Hu's back. She paused and whispered a soft, "Thank you," into Hu's ear before she turned to her escorts.

The large guards stepped aside as the grand doors of the keep swung open.

"Please, this way," Ashen Leaf said.

Ivory stepped forward, between the guards and through the doors.

The wooden soldiers did not follow, and the doors swung slowly, softly closed once Ivory and the others had passed through them.

Within was a gently curving corridor that went off in both directions. Ashen Leaf indicated that they should take the right passage. Ivory started down the hall. To her left was the outside wall. In Creation, there would be windows, set with glass in such a palace. In Kotomaro's palace the branches formed perfectly square openings in the wall, and within grew a curtain of lace-like leaves. The effect was a little as if the windows had been set with green glass and it was quite beautiful.

To her right, she passed by doors, as well as open arches, through which she saw a ballroom, a library and even a large pool. She wondered if the books in the library were real. If they were real what sort of books would an elemental might collect?

Would she have time to get an invitation to wander the palace as she would?

Did she even want to seek such an invitation from Kotomaro?

After they had circled about a third of the way around the outer circumference they stopped at a large set of doors. Standing to either side were more of the large guards, armed with long pole arms of wood.

Dagger Thorn stepped forward. "Visitors to see Kotomaro the Hidden Lightning."

The guards did not react, but the doors swung slowly open.

Dagger Thorn and Ashen Leaf stood aside so that Ivory, Hu and Darken Gray could enter first.

Ivory passed through the doors, taking a moment to look about the room.

There were many elementals, perhaps forty or fifty. Many were human shaped, of different woods, almost looking like people of creation. Of the others Ivory took note of a few: wolves of timber, an eagle the size of an ox, made of flowers, and three tall figures, like the guards by the doors, though better shaped than those.

Had etiquette allowed it she might have examined the court of Kotomaro for a longer time, for she found the wood elementals interesting. However that was not an option, and after a quick glance, she shifted her full attention to the one who ruled in this place.

A lesser elemental dragon, she was still quite large. Her scales were shaped like leaves and made of a dark hardwood. Her eyes were the colour of green grass, set in a large head. Her claws, which rested on the wooden floor, looked like they were the roots of oaks, made sharp.

O the Flying Wood had approached that level of power, but Ivory was confident that Kotomaro was stronger.

Eyes towards her host Ivory crossed the room as those bright green eyes regarded her.

Curious Ivory supposed.

Of course, she would be.

A little girl, a woman, a tiger.

Likely the elemental had never seen such a thing.

Ivory stopped, perhaps twenty feet from the dragon, then she curtsied, dipping her head low, low enough to be polite, but in no way to appear subservient.

Darken Gray had been working with ivory on her Etiquette lessons, and with a touch of Ivory's essence to add a sense of perfection she blurred the line between politeness and rudeness to the point where it was impossible to tell which was which.

The body language of the Dragon, as much as she might read it, seemed to change. A hint of discomfort, of uncertainty.

Ivory straightened and spoke loudly. "I am Ivory of House Peleps, of the Blessed Isle, Twilight of the Unconquered Sun."

Obvious surprise from Kotomaro and her gaze seemed to search out others.

Ashen Leaf and Dagger Thorn, Ivory supposed.

So they had not told her who her guests were.

Kotomaro looked back towards Ivory, and Ivory believed that the dragon was about to ask her to prove such a claim, but at that moment, unasked, Ivory made her caste mark glow upon her forehead, and she was certain Kotomaro swallowed her words.

Around her whispers of other elementals, too soft for Ivory to make out, but she guessed at them. Surprise, perhaps some uncertainty.

Darken Gray spoke next. "I am Darken Gray, goddess of Loving Punishment, in service to Lady Aisha Ex."

Hu growled.

It seemed to get the point across.

Kotomaro took a moment before speaking.

"Welcome to the Elemental Pole of Wood and to my palace. I am honoured to be graced by such august personages."

"I thank you for your welcome Kotomaro the Hidden Lightning. I have never been to an Elemental Pole. Your gracious invitation was appreciated."

"Had I known I would have ensured an even grander welcome."

Ivory smiled and nodded. "You are most kind."

Seeming to have put her surprise aside she said, "Long has it been since the last time a Solar came to this Pole. Surely I must offer thanks to the Unconquered Sun."

"And we to the Dragon of Wood whose presence is most missed," Darken Gray spoke.

Ivory supposed it was a loaded statement.

Again it seemed as if Kotomaro was somewhat put off balance, perhaps trying to guess the real meaning of the declaration.

"Yes," Kotomaro said, with little pause. "Were Sextes Jylis here I believe the nature of this meeting would be most different."

It was, Ivory thought, probably a threat.

"Are you only here to see this Pole?" Kotomaro asked, apparently wanting to know why they were there.

Ivory smiled as she reached into the small purse she carried and removed the heart she had made. "I am building an essence reactor, it will one day soon power an automaton I will also build."

Kotomaro stretched her neck out, perhaps to get a better look. "Fascinating I am certain."

Ivory nodded. "To charge it I needed to visit perhaps four of the five Poles. All five would be best, but I can make it work with four. Wood first, for the productive life energy."

Kotomaro nodded, seeming to accept Ivory's explanation for her presence, and the unspoken compliment offered. "It sounds like a great work."

"I will need to travel to the very centre of the Pole, I would, of course, appreciate your permission to do so."

Ivory was not really asking for permission.

"Of course," the dragon said as it returned to its previous position no longer interested in what Ivory held. "You have my permission."

Ivory nodded.

"Perhaps this day we will celebrate your visit?"

"I would be honoured," Ivory replied. "The enlivening of this reactor will wait."

"Excellent," Kotomaro said. "When the sun sets we shall meet in the grand ballroom where you will enjoy the hospitality of my court."

* * *

Later, after they had returned to the pagoda and the privacy it offered, Darken Gray reviewed their meeting with the dragon, asking Ivory questions about what had happened and the significance of it all.

Another test.

When Darken Gray had received the answers she was looking for Ivory asked, "What if Sextes Jylis had been present?"

"It is hard to say. Kotomaro meant that as a threat, but it was not directed at you."

Ivory nodded after a moment. "It was directed at her court. Reminding them that it could be worse."

"Yes, I believe so. But to answer your question, I do not think you would necessarily be welcomed by Sextes Jylis. The Elemental Dragons will remember the Solars of old and their relationship with them was complex?"

"Complex?"

"Solars of old were powerful enough to deal with the Elemental Dragons as near equals. I do not think the Dragons appreciated it. I think you would best be received coolly. What happened after that," and she smiled, "would depend much on your behaviour."

Ivory supposed that was true.

"Have you met any of the Elemental Dragons?"

"Not formally. I have seen two of the Dragons, but there were no introductions. It was heavenly business, and I was just there to represent Lady Aisha Ex."

"I would like to meet them," Ivory stated. "Not now, but when I can deal with them as an equal."

"Centuries away."

"Maybe not that long," Ivory said, feeling that she knew far more than Darken Gray suspected. "Maybe just one century."

Darken Gray's expression was, Ivory thought, strange, but she was not certain why.

"When did you think to use the reactor as an excuse to be here?"

"A few days ago, I thought if I were asked why I was here I would show them the heart."

"It was quite wise and showed admirable forethought."

Ivory smiled.

"You should get some rest now. You want to be ready for this evening's event. I do not think Kotomaro means you any harm, but I would not completely trust it.

Ivory did not feel that tired but chose not to fight Darken Gray on it.

There would be other battles that would be more important.

* * *

When the sun was setting, and darkness growing beneath the endless canopy of the forest, Ivory once again made her way up the stairs, seated upon Hu's back. She was dressed in blue, a dress a little less formal than the one she had worn earlier.

She slipped from Hu's back when he reached the top of the stairs.

Darken Gray was with her, dressed much in the manner she always did.

As before Ashen Leaf and Dagger Thorn were waiting for them.

Something about them made Ivory wary, and she recalled Darken Gray's earlier warning.

She was careful to make the action subtle as she shifted her gaze to her governess.

A slight nod indicated that Darken Gray had seen it as well.

Ivory smiled at them, as if she were unaware of the difference, and greeted them.

The two elementals were polite, almost hiding the sense of unease Ivory had detected.

They led Ivory and the others into the palace.

Once more they turned right, but they only walked about a quarter of the way around the keep's circumference. They stopped in front of one of the open arches that Ivory had noticed before. Within was a huge ballroom, with floors that looked like parquet tiles and roses that hung down the walls like velvet curtains.

A band of elementals played strange instruments that Ivory thought might be part of their bodies, and the room was crowded with more elementals than had been in the audience room. She wondered if some of the guests were not elementals. There those that did not share the wood aspect of most of the beings there.

Unfortunately, she could not openly stare and seek that kind out, for her attention had to be directed to her host.

Kotomaro had set herself in the centre of the room, which, Ivory thought, would make dancing hard; assuming, of course, the elementals would dance.

She was watching as Ivory entered.

The draconic features were difficult to read, but Ivory thought she was smiling.

She did not think it was completely in welcome.

"Be on your guard," Darken Gray said in a soft tone for Ivory's ears only.

"Be welcome Ivory Peleps, Darken Gray and Hu," the dragon called out, "this gathering is in your honour after all."

The orchestra began playing a strange music with an odd, discordant chord progression, flats and diminished notes, scattered with major chords. It was not that it was bad, Ivory thought, but it was not to her taste.

She crossed the dance floor, which was empty, and stopped not too far from where Kotomaro rested. "Thank you for your kindness."

"You are most welcome Twilight. I hope you find the arrangements to your liking."

"No one is dancing," Ivory told her.

It was not really polite, but Ivory knew she could get away with it, for she had made the statement seem innocent, more a question than a criticism.

"Yes, that is a custom from Creation, one that we do not follow ourselves. Perhaps you might dance for us? I have heard that you are quite talented."

So Kotomaro had heard about her visit to Far Hold and her meeting with Elder Oak. Perhaps Elder Oak had even passed the details of that visit to Kotomaro.

They might even be allies.

"If you wish I could dance." She was not going to put on false modesty like a cloak and say that her dance would be out of place in such a palace. Perhaps were she not Exalted of the Sun false modesty might be a strategy.

She waited for the request.

Kotomaro seemed to realise that she must either make some excuse or ask Ivory to dance, so she chose the most politic option and said, "I would be pleased if an Exalted of the Unconquered Sun were to honour us with a dance."

"Of course," Ivory said.

"This music, surely not what you are used to from Creation. Ask, and they will play something you are familiar with."

Ivory smiled. "This music is quite acceptable, thank you."

She would ask for no favours.

Hu and Darken Gray stayed close to Kotomaro, as was their right as gods of their classes. That removed them from the corridor of Ivory's protection, but Ivory knew that both were powerful enough to deny the energies of the place.

She took a position near the centre of the room, looked about, towards the guests and the musicians and then back to Kotomaro.

When she had been five, she had learned a dance to the elemental dragons. She and other children had spent months practising under harsh teachers. Ivory could not even remember what event they had been dancing for. Likely in celebration of someone's birthday. She remembered all the punishments for any misstep, and of all the times she had been reduced to tears and impotent, immature rage.

And she remembered each step.

The perfection of the Unconquered Sun made her steps light, allowed her to find the pattern in the music and marry her dance to it.

The dance of the Dragon of Earth, every step placed solidly, every movement slow and precise.

The dance of the Dragon of Water, flowing, always uncertain, every dance step changing with the music.

The dance of the Dragon of Wood, like a growing tree, seemingly controlled, but always a bit of wildness in it.

Those around her watched.

Ivory was certain they were pleased.

She chose to eschew the dance of the Dragon of Fire and Air.

Instead, Ivory improvised, and danced for the Sun, as she imagined it.

Confident steps, bright movements, every gesture or foot placement speaking of more power than any of the previous. The sun was above all.

She finished, a rapid series of leaping steps, a final spin on her toe, hands raised above her head, spread out like the rising sun.

Dropping rapidly to a knee she bowed her head low, but not to the dragon in front of her, but to the Unconquered Sun.

As she straightened, Ivory took in deep breaths through her nose, letting them out through her mouth, careful not to pant. Her hairband's magic had kept her clothing in order, not a hair out of place, not a drop of sweat to mar her appearance.

She was not entirely certain how long she had been dancing, but all eyes were on her.

No one clapped as they might in Creation, but there was a soft murmur of approval or appreciation.

Again, Ivory was not certain of the expressions of the dragon's face. She guessed appreciation mixed with some irritation.

"Perhaps we may learn to dance like that," Kotomaro said.

"Every movement of a tree is a dance in of itself," Ivory answered in reply.

It was a compliment, and Kotomaro took it that way, but Ivory had also meant for it to be a suggestion that the elementals might not dance as well as she.

Perhaps she had been too subtle?

"It is pleasing to have guests visits, but not all who visit are guests," the dragon said, and Ivory was certain that Kotomaro had been waiting for this.

Ivory only nodded.

"We have been sent a messenger from an important personage. My apologies Ivory Peleps for bringing this official business to a celebration of your visit."

"There is no need to apologise. You have your duties."

"You are most kind. Send in the messenger."

Looking around Ivory saw what she took to be confusion in the expressions of the elementals there. Whatever Kotomaro had planned it was meant to be a surprise to her court as well.

There was a small amount of commotion near the main entryway, and then a group of the wooden soldiers came in, escorting some strange creature. It took Ivory a moment to realise the strange creature was a blood ape.

The forces of the Pole of Wood had worked their energies on it. Leaves and small twigs had spouted from its skin, and as it moved there was a soft creaking sound as if branches rubbed together.

She suspected some of the elementals were surprised by the appearance of a demon in the court. Ivory herself had not expected to see one.

"You bring a message for me," Kotomaro said. "Speak demon, while you still might, for this pole consumes you even now."

"I will not be laid down by such forces in Creation," the Blood Ape said in a loud voice. "I will deliver my message as charged. Rakshi, Elder Lunar, sends word to Kotomaro of the death of O the Flying Wood."

Ivory thought she now understood the earlier smile the dragon had worn.

"Death?" Kotomaro asked.

"O the Flying Wood was obliterated."

"How could such a thing happen?" Kotomaro demanded of the demon.

All around them other elementals looked on. Ivory thought that they all looked shocked, and Kotomaro had their full attention.

"Rakshi believes that a Solar Exalt ended O, one who looked like a child."

Ivory watched as Kotomaro shifted her attention to her.

"Yes, I destroyed O," Ivory said before a question could be asked. "It was the correct action and needed to be done." Ivory spoke with complete certainty, not a hint of doubt in her tone. She knew, with absolute clarity, that O had needed to be destroyed.

Perhaps, Ivory thought, Kotomaro thought that she would deny the action, or even apologise. She did not seem to have expected certainty. That apparently left her at a loss for words, for she was silent.

Before she might master her surprise, the blood ape spoke again. "I have been asked by Lady Rakshi to pass on a request. That is that if the one who destroyed O enters your court that you would see her delivered to Rakshi. Rakshi as a friend…"

The blood apes eyes widened.

Darken Gray was at his side, half the length of her double-edged, long straight sword buried in its chest.

Ivory had not seen her move, though she had not been watching.

She had not known that the goddess was armed.

The wooden soldiers around the blood ape appeared shocked, and stood, as if uncertain of what to do.

"I am sending you back to hell," Darken Gray said, voice calm, but filling the room.

Ivory was not sure if Darken Gray was loud or the hall was just quiet.

"When you get back there, make sure you pass this message on to whatever demon Rakshi the Queen of Fangs summons next." She twisted the blade, and the blood ape grunted in obvious pain. "The Lady Aisha Ex has ignored the blasphemous actions of Rakshi out of respect to Luna. If Ivory's name even passes from her lips, I will know, and more importantly, Lady Aisha Ex will know. Many powerful beings, Sidereals, gods of war, Exalts, all owe my lady favours. Rakshi Queen of Fangs should ask herself how long she might live if her actions displease my lady. Do you understand my message."

"I understand," the blood ape grunted.

Darken Gray pulled the blade free, yanking it straight out. Then she lifted it above her head, spun it about, and brought it around for a cut that went right through the blood ape's neck.

As its head fell to the floor, Darken Gray turned and walked away from it, towards Kotomaro. She took a handkerchief from a pocket and wiped the blood from the blade. "My apologies for the mess," she said to the dragon.

Looking back at Kotomaro Ivory thought, for a moment, there was fear in the dragon's countenance, but it was gone before she could be sure. Instead, a sort of wary appraisal seemed to shape the dragon's features. "I understand. A threat was made, the messenger had to be killed."

Darken Gray nodded. "As you say."

"Perhaps," Ivory said, "due to this unfortunate event and the unwelcome news we might end this entertainment early?"

Ivory did not mention that she was the cause of the unwelcome news.

Kotomaro shifted her gaze to Ivory, then to Darken Gray and once more to Ivory. "Yes, you are of course correct."

Ivory performed a curtsy as her caste mark blazed to existence on her forehead.

* * *

"That was well done," Darken Gray told her once they had returned to the pagoda.

"What?"

"Ending that farce of a reception. No one wanted to be there, you gave Kotomaro an opportunity to save face. You have not put her in a situation where she owes you a favour, but I think it will be easier to deal with her."

"Who is Rakshi?" Ivory asked.

"Rakshi is not a problem I wish to talk about. It is distasteful."

"But…"

"Ivory, I said I did not wish to speak about Rakshi. You will have nothing to fear from that quarter so do not ask again."

Ivory wondered what would happen were she to ask again.

Playing at baiting her governess did not seem a wise choice at the moment.

"Now, what did you see?" Darken Gray asked her.

"Pardon?"

"What did you see? What have you learned?"

Ivory thought about that for a moment. "Bringing the demon into the hall was not meant as an attack on me, but to make the other elementals mistrustful of me."

"Anything else?"

Ivory shook her head.

"Were you watching Kotomaro?"

"I was looking at you," Ivory said.

"Why?"

"Why? I wanted to see you fight."

Darken Gray looked at her. "That was hardly a fight Ivory, more an execution."

"But I wasn't the only one watching you, they… Oh."

"You understand?"

Ivory nodded. "If everyone was watching you I should've have been watching everyone else."

"Yes. Had you been watching Kotomaro you would have seen that my mention of Sidereals worried her, as to be expected. She is also concerned about the level of beings involved. If Lady Aisha Ex would learn if Rakshi even spoke your name, then she would certainly know if anything happened to you."

"And she might send Sidereals to investigate?"

Darken Gray nodded. "Or at least Kotomaro must be thinking that. That the elementals are mistrustful of you means they are less likely to try to drag you into the politics of this place."

"So all I have to worry about is anyone, like that spider, who might try to please Kotomaro without her knowing."

Darken Gray nodded.

"I want to leave tomorrow."

"You must be polite about it."

Ivory thought for a moment. "Would a letter be polite enough?"

"It is a start."


	8. The Centre of the Pole of Wood

**The Centre of the Pole of Wood**

The pagoda left Kotomaro's palace with the rising of the sun.

Kotomaro flew at their side for several minutes. Out from the palace rooms that had confined her the entirety of the elemental dragon was on display, and truly she was an incredible sight. In the growing light under the canopy, Ivory saw every aspect of the dragon, from its mighty head all the way to the end of its elegant tail.

The dragon had not asked for a formal leave-taking, expressing an understanding of Ivory's desire to be on her way.

Ivory watched from the covered garden as Darken Gray piloted the pagoda.

Finally, after several minutes that dragon looped around them. "Fare thee well Solar. May your quest here bear fruit," it called out.

Then the dragon was flying back towards its palace, leaving them alone.

* * *

Once more there travelled through the vast wilds of the Elemental Pole, closing on its centre.

As she flew onwards, Ivory was watchful. If any being sought favour with Kotomaro, it might very well choose to attack them. However, the area around them remained quiet and other than the wildlife they saw very little beyond the trees

The reality engine could impose the laws of reality in even the unshaped chaos completely beyond Creation. The elemental, changing energies of the Pole were no real danger to anything protected by the engine.

However, for what Ivory had to do she had to leave the safety of the engine's field.

She had to immerse herself completely in that energy.

It was dangerous.

The pagoda bobbed among the tree trunks, the elemental vitality moving it like waves moved a boat.

"Are you ready for this?" Darken Gray asked.

They stood at the front door of the pagoda, looking out at the centre of the Pole of Wood, or Life.

Ivory nodded, and then because she wanted there to be no doubts, hers or anyone else, she said, "I am ready."

Darken Gray nodded. "Then go."

"I'll be back," Ivory said, and then leapt from the doorway, out into the open air around the pagoda.

When she fell from the Reality Engine's field the energy of the Pole surrounded her.

Only two things kept that elemental energy from changing her. One was her steel will fuelled by essence, refusing the changes those powers tried to impose on her. The other was the reactor she held in her hands, which drew in much of the energy around her.

Ivory fell among the endless tree trunks, twisting through the interwoven branches as she plummeted.

There was no ground below, and the canopy above her was endless.

It was an impossible infinite space and as Ivory fell she had no fear of hitting the ground.

Above her, the pagoda followed her down.

Ivory closed her eyes and held the heart, the essence reactor above her, this was the show for anyone watching.

It was a distraction from what she was really doing, of the sorcerous working she was creating.

Her essence flared brighter and brighter, growing from glow to fire to the iconic display of the bands of essence encircling her.

At first, she had wondered how she would hide and protect her working, and until only recently had thought she might have to recruit the help of beings like Kotomaro. However, the vast knowledge that Lieger had given her provided other options.

She seemed to dance as she fell, at times she even released her hold on the reactor, and it fell along with her, and her hands traced out delicate patterns in the air. Her bare feet moved at well. She had leapt from the pagoda in a thin, silk shift, but she had shed that early on so that the energy of the pole could touch every part of her, and she could know it intimately.

She did not create the working, not then, but instead, in effect, sent it into the future. With her own essence she shaped the elemental essence, she set it to become, eventually, what she needed. Like pushing a rock down a hill, she provided the potential for what she wanted. And like the rock, once she had started it rolling, she would not have to be around when it reached the bottom of the hill, to crash into something.

Ivory felt a tickling on her scalp as her hair began to grow out, the life-giving energy of the pole effecting her in the only way it could.

It grew long, and like a flaming red flag trailed her in her endless fall.

Ivory spun lazily about, a cats cradle of golden essence woven between her fingers. Watchers would see the essence surrounding the reactor, none would see the streamers that came from the weave, left behind as she fell.

Reaching out, giving a final twist of her fingers, she tied off the spell.

It was done.

It was perfect.

She laughed as her hands closed around the reactor, which was perfect as well.

With some of her last essence, she brought up the field of Creation and protection about her. She brushed her fingers across the heart.

The control rods snapped into place.

Turning she waved towards the following pagoda.

The pagoda drew even with her, slipping in close, matching her speed. To Ivory, it seemed as she floated gently towards the front door.

Her bare feet touched the polished wood, and her knees buckled for she was far more tired than she had thought.

Hu was there, however, wrapping her up, his fur soft and warm against her bare skin. He kept her from falling.

"Welcome back," he said to her.

"I'm home," Ivory told him with a smile.


	9. Returning to Creation

**Returning to Creation**

They left the Elemental Pole of Wood without any incident. That surprised Ivory at first. She had been certain something would attempt to attack her and the others. She thought about it and decided that it made sense.

Few there wanted to deal with her. They were either afraid of her because she had killed O the Flying Wood, or found her presence distasteful for the same reason.

And for those that might wish to strike against her, Kotomaro would keep them in check. The Dragon was not about risk attracting the attention of Heaven and possibly the Sidereals by acting. If Ivory was leaving Kotomaro was likely happy to see her gone.

She saw few elementals of note on her way out, though she thought she might have seen Ashen Leaf in the distance. She had entertained the thought, at the time, that the elemental was chasing the spider away.

She worked during the time they flew back towards Creation. There were the many projects that Darken Gray gave her, as well as her construct. She had the heart primed and had to start thinking of the body.

Fortunately, the wealth within the Elemental Pole offered her a bounty of materials to with which to start.

After five or six days they passed out of the endless canopy, above them the late day sun.

A sense of claustrophobia that Ivory had not even been aware of having, lifted as she saw the unfiltered sun and took a deep breath.

"Finally," she said softly.

She got up from her desk and ran through the pagoda, out into the covered garden, rich with growth. She climbed the pilot tower and entered the pilothouse where Darken Gray worked.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking out over the forest.

"Have you finished your report on Kotomaro's palace?"

"No, I'm tired of it. Where are we?"

"If you are not finished the report by the time the sun sets I will be displeased."

Ivory considered if she wanted to deal with a displeased Darken Gray, but supposed she had a few hours at least in which to make that decision. "Where are we?"

"The Middle Marches. We'll see if we can follow the purest form of the forest back to Creation, but apparently, that does not always work when leaving."

"Strange," Ivory said, though she did not care. She was looking out over the terrain below, looking for the amazing things that she had not had time for on her way to the Elemental Pole.

Part of her wanted to rush towards the south the Pole of Fire which would be her next destination. Part of her recalled that she was supposed to be more subtle in her journey.

It would be okay if she took her time.

Calibration was not that close.

She pointed. "Look, what's that?"

Off to their left, the sun reflected off something silver.

"Some variation of the forests, as produced by the Wyld. Perhaps it is a forest of metal."

"A forest of metal?" Ivory asked, gaze fixed on the far-off reflection.

Darken Gray said, "Well, let's go see."

"Can we?"

"This is an educational trip. I will take the opportunity to show you new things."

Ivory leaned over Darken Gray's shoulder as the pagoda banked gently and flew off in the direction of the silver flash.


End file.
